And if Netanyahu scores a landslide victory?
According to his rivals, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a plan in the case that he wins the elections: He will empty the law enforcement system of all its powers.
If Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wins the upcoming elections, that will be the end of Israeli democracy, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak said in interviews he gave to the Israeli media this week. Blue and White member Yair Lapid tweeted Feb. 25, “If you plan on voting for Labor-Meretz, ask yourselves one question: What will remain of Israeli democracy if Netanyahu wins by even one mandate?”
Simultaneously, Shas Chairman Aryeh Deri said in an Feb. 25 interview with Walla that his party will enable Netanyahu to continue to serve as prime minister even if the High Court forbids it. This statement is seen as a confirmation of the deep misgivings that are spreading throughout the center-left and the few liberal bastions that still remain in Israel that should Netanyahu achieve 61 seats, he would take off his gloves and shred the country’s law enforcement and legal systems into pieces. Then he would re-create new systems in his own image.
The nightmare scenario example used by Blue and White officials is today’s Turkey under Recep Tayyip Erdogan. They believe that under Netanyahu, the administration would undergo far-reaching changes: The powers of the prime minister would be widened, the wings of the legal system would be clipped and takeover of the media would be completed. As usual, the official formulator of these fears was Barak: “Israeli democracy is being smashed to pieces; next Monday is our last opportunity to halt it. The very idea of an Ohana-Engelman regime [Justice Minister Amir Ohana and State Comptroller Matanyahu Engelman], directed by a Netanyahu whose wife and son have made totally crazy, is truly a nightmare. If we can’t stop him with our votes, we are likely to quickly roll down toward the Poland/Hungary junction or toward the 'Turkey case,'” he wrote in an article published in Haaretz on Feb. 25.
Netanyahu himself reinforced these concerns due to a slip of the tongue during one of the interviews he held this week. When asked if, after the elections, he would consider legislating a law similar to the "French law" [of sovereign immunity] that prevents the indictment of a head of state, Netanyahu did not rule out the possibility. Afterward he realized his mistake and hurried to strongly deny such a possibility in all the interviews he gave. Even Netanyahu understands that if he is perceived as trying to achieve victory in the elections in order to avoid legal punishment, he’ll lose points even among the right. Despite Netanyahu’s current momentum, most of the Israeli public still understands that a prime minister under indictment is not capable of running a country as complicated and volatile as Israel.
