Far-right MK calls for arrest of Lapid, Gantz

Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Tuesday urged politicians to “lower the temperature” as increasingly shrill statements and warnings surrounding plans to overhaul Israel’s judicial system heightened tensions between the Knesset coalition and opposition, including predictions of civil war and calls to jail leading government critics.

At the same time, Herzog asked Justice Minister Yariv Levin to “soften” his planned changes to the judiciary and offered to host a discussion about the controversial court makeover, according to a report by the Kan public broadcaster. Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi also attended the Tuesday meeting with Herzog.

“I turn to you, elected officials from both ends of the political and public spectrums – show restraint and responsibility,” Herzog wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. “We don’t have another country.”

The President also vowed to protect the values laid out in Israel’s Declaration of Independence, which he called “our nation’s compass”.

“This is a sensitive and volatile time in Israel. I’m aware of the voices heard on both sides, as well as people’s sorrows, concerns and anxieties. It does not go unnoticed. I am not blind to this and am constantly occupied by it,” he said.

It comes after MK Zvika Fogel, from Itamar Ben Gvir’s extreme-right Otzma Yehudit party, called on Tuesday afternoon for the arrest of Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, National Unity party leader Benny Gantz and former MKs Yair Golan and Moshe Ya’alon, accusing them of “treason against the state” and saying they “are the most dangerous people right now”, sparking widespread condemnation.

Fogel made the remarks in an interview with the Kan public broadcaster, responding to comments by the four against the government’s plans to overhaul the judicial system.

Asked by the incredulous interviewer if she had heard him correctly, Fogel doubled down.

“That’s exactly what I said. These four are now talking about war … If they were calling for protests, I’d give them every right to protest. But they’re talking in terms of me being an enemy,” he said.

He added, “As far as I’m concerned, it’s treason against the state, if I wasn’t clear enough.”

Lapid, Gantz, Golan and Ya’alon have lambasted the new government’s plan to implement a sweeping judicial reform that critics say would neuter the country’s judiciary and allow the government to harm minority rights while eliminating oversight by legal advisers and the High Court of Justice.

Gantz on Monday accused Netanyahu of “leading toward civil war”; Lapid urged his supporters to take to the streets as part of a “war over our home”; Golan has called for “civil disobedience”; and Ya’alon has urged the police chief to defy orders by National Security Minister Ben Gvir, who has been given unprecedented powers over the police as part of the new coalition, with greater authority to dictate policy.

Fogel is slated to become head of the Knesset’s Public Security Committee in several weeks’ time, giving him oversight over the police force, which is under the purview of Otzma Yehudit leader Ben Gvir, the new minister of national security.

Commenting on Fogel’s interview, Lapid tweeted, “It was obvious that this would come. In non-democratic countries, the leadership always threatens to arrest opposition leaders.

“This is how democracy falls apart, in a day,” he added. “Ben Gvir says to use water cannons against our protesters, MK Fogel says Gantz and I should be arrested and thrown in jail for treason, and in Beersheba, a man tries to run over students [who support us] for rallying and making use of their right to free speech. We will not allow ourselves or our beloved country to be overrun.”

National Unity MK Gadi Eisenkot, who like Gantz and Ya’alon is a former IDF chief of staff, called on Fogel to “take back his severe remarks”. He urged Netanyahu to “immediately condemn” the comments, adding: “A coalition that calls for the arrest of opposition leaders is unacceptable in a democracy.”

Gantz issued a fiery statement that didn’t directly comment on Fogel’s remark, saying that Israel “needs wide agreements and not the continuation of incitement and factionalism”. He demanded that Netanyahu “condemn the attacks on protesters and the severe remarks”, urging him to “act to heal the nation’s rifts, not to widen them”.

Initially keeping silent on the matter, Netanyahu’s office later issued a statement saying that he had told President Isaac Herzog in a phone call, “In a democratic country, opposition chiefs aren’t arrested, just like government ministers aren’t called Nazis, Jewish governments aren’t called the Third Reich and civil disobedience among the public isn’t encouraged.”TIMES OF ISRAEL