The never ending legal saga with its daily thundering headlines against the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu has in recent days begin to resemble a scene out of Israel’s new hit series “Fauda”. The series is about an undercover elite Israeli unit that operates in the ‘West Bank’, is named for the Arabic word for chaos, often used by IDF soldiers to describe operational activities in the ‘West Bank’, and by Palestinian Arabs to depict their daily lives.
“Fauda” focuses on undercover operations in the area hunting down members of Hamas, using all means at their disposal. There is, naturally, an absence of due process, personal civil rights and legal recourse because this is a fight against the terrorists who want to murder Israeli civilians.. The goal in this life-and-death case justifies the means, and the result is expected to be nothing less than the complete elimination of the target. The missions operate within a subtext of total immunity, and are judged by their success in carrying out their missions.
One cannot escape the connection between the style and scope this past year of the police investigations against an elected Prime Minister, his associates, and essentially anyone in close contact with Benjamin Netanyahu, and the mindset of the current police commissioner, a former 30 year veteran and deputy head of the Shabak, Israel’s version of the FBI, anti-terror forces, and internal homeland security all rolled up into one; a very powerful, and largely secret organization.
It seems as if the police forces have undergone a transformation, a kind of “Faudalization” within their organizational behavior code and have mobilized all means at their disposal to politically dispose of the elected Prime Minister of the State of Israel. It seems as if the current police investigation against the Prime Minister has been meticulous in coordinating and manipulating accusations and state witnesses to create an atmosphere magnified by the printed, broadcasted, and social media platforms which are desperately hungry for any information that can advance the liberal-left, progressive political agenda to replace Benjamin Netanyahu.
In the “Fauda” television series, which one must remember is not a documentary, operatives are portrayed as thorough in giving only lawful orders and refraining from obeying blatantly illegal orders, without diminishing neither the shoot-to-kill objectives nor the pressure to get kills. The plot allows the viewers to experience the personal perspective of real terrorists with blood on their hands, Palestinian terrorists who are wanted by the Israeli army for years, and the Israeli Shabak hunting them down. At the same time, there are scenes where undercover agents meet with terrorists in which they hug and kiss, they sit together to eat and drink, in a camaraderie that seems to transcend the inevitable tragedy that awaits them. Scenes of interrogations and imprisonment are typified by behavior impervious to judicial oversight.
This week’s revelation of collusion by a judge and an Israel Securities Authority (ISA) public prosecutor in one of the corruption investigations, the so-called Case 4000, and the fact that both were not immediately arresting for blatant criminal behavior, is an eye opener and not only because of the the two people involved. The shocking fact is that the Police investigators did not immediately confiscate their cell phones and personal computers to examine whether the suspected collusion didn’t extend to other cases against the Prime Minister, including additional police investigators, judges, prosecutors who are all at the forefront of the legal and investigative witch hunt against Benjamin Netanyahu.
These unelected civil servants, the judiciary, and the police force who were supposed to be Israel’s democratic gatekeepers, have in one giant exposure done more damage to the public’s trust than any of the allegations against the Prime Minister. They seem to be operating within a subtext of total immunity, and are judged by their success in carrying out their mission to force Benjamin Netanyahu out of office.
The correspondence exposed by Channel 10, in which Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court Judge Ronit Poznansky-Katz and Eran Shacham-Shavit, the deputy council of the ISA’s investigative department, discussed and coordinated remand periods for some of the suspects in text messages prior to the hearings, will likely damage the current police investigation into Case 4000 and even throw off balance other corruption probes against Netanyahu.
“It is shocking to see the cover-up attempts by the heads of the justice system,” wrote Tourism Minister Yariv Levin (Likud) in a Facebook post, noting that “if it turns out that civilians were sent to detention in a tainted procedure, in which the decision was made even before a hearing, it is a criminal offense of the harshest degree.”
As events unfold at a mesmerizing pace, one cannot easily dismiss the demand that the lengthy investigations into alleged corruption against Benjamin Netanyahu be dismissed since the judicial process has been undeniably tainted. A legal foundation in all Democratic judicial processes deals with the concept of the “fruit of the poisonous tree” This is a legal metaphor used to describe evidence that is obtained illegally. The logic of the terminology is that if the source (the “tree”) of the evidence or evidence itself is tainted, then anything gained (the “fruit”) from it is tainted as well.
Evidence that has been admitted in court yet obtained by illegal police or judiciary representatives is not admissible.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has defended himself against allegations by pointing his finger at the apparent collusion between the media, judiciary, and investigative police officers. He has accused them of masterminding a deep-state conspiracy against him. He has labeled negative reporting of him as “fake news” and said that the media is engaged in “an obsessive witch hunt against me and my family with the goal of achieving a coup against the government.”
The prime minister has cast aspersions on the integrity of Commissioner Roni Alsheich. He said police were doing all they could to bring him down, accusing the force of “slander and lies.” This newest expose is bearing him out. And we have barely touched on the judiciary in this article.
The “Faudalization” of Israel’s police and judicial systems is transpiring before our very eyes, stay tuned for the next episode.
The writer, a 25-year veteran of the I.D.F., served as a field mental health officer. Prior to retiring in 2005, served as the Commander of the Central Psychiatric Military Clinic for Reserve Soldiers at Tel-Hashomer. Since retiring from active duty, he provides consultancy services to NGO’s implementing Psycho trauma and Psycho education programs to communities in the North and South of Israel. Ron is a former strategic advisor at the Office of the Chief Foreign Envoy of Judea and Samaria
Article source: http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/UAEs-Sheikh-Mohammed-says-Trumps-Jlem-decision-could-help-terrorists-517585
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