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.
