Another year is upon us, and there is still no light at the end of the occupation tunnel. With the departure of Interior Minister Silvan Shalom from the government in December, the meaningless portfolio of minister in charge of negotiations with the Palestinians, which he also held, has no takers. Shas leader Aryeh Deri, appointed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to succeed Shalom at Interior, did jail time (2000-2002) for accepting a bribe during his previous stint in that office. The ministries of foreign affairs, communication, economy and regional cooperation are still de facto vacant, officially held by Netanyahu. The year got underway with news of plans to grant legal status to unauthorized West Bank outposts and Netanyahu taking advantage of the Jan. 1 murders of three men in Tel Aviv to surf his favorite waves of hatred of the other, fear and victimization.

Things are no better in terms of democracy, tolerance and freedom of speech: The government has approved proposed legislation by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked requiring human rights and other activists whose organizations receive foreign government assistance to wear special identification badges. Education Minister Naftali Bennett has welcomed a decision to ban the teaching of Dorit Rabinyan's “Borderlife,” a love story between a Palestinian man and a Jewish woman. Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev has tried to interfere in the playlist of Galgalatz, Army Radio’s music station, which is actually under the purview of the minister of defense. High school civics teachers have been told that “issues underlining the importance of understanding democracy as an idea that extends beyond majority rule and requires tolerance, pluralism and minority rights” have been omitted from the curriculum.

What glad tidings were issued to the public by the government headed by a man who built his career on a relentless war against terrorism? How did Cabinet ministers reassure parents who refused to send their kids to school for fear of a terrorist — Neshat Melhem, perpetrator of the Jan. 1 Tel Aviv attack — roaming freely? On Army Radio Jan. 4, the minister of education offered them this: “The number of people killed in traffic accidents is far greater.” Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan concurred with Bennett’s opinion, asserting, “In terms of probability, there are also many accidents.” What consolation for worried parents! One could also query the transportation minister on the matter, given that the number of road casualties is on the rise.

What more must happen for the public to emerge from its indifference? True, the current government was chosen in democratic elections, and the opposition reserves the right to topple it. That said, the greatest injustices in modern history have been caused by regimes whose parliaments were democratically elected. When parliament does not care to or cannot serve the inherent interests of the people, it is the right of civil society, if not its duty, to take a stand. The hundreds of thousands who demonstrated in 1982 on Tel Aviv's Kings of Israel Square (renamed Rabin Square), following the massacre at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon, led to Defense Minister Ariel Sharon's removal from office. The Four Mothers movement hastened the withdrawal of the Israel Defense Forces from Lebanon in 2000. Were it not for a prolonged sit-in outside the prime minister’s residence, kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit would probably have wasted away in Hamas' hands instead of being released in 2011.