No Israeli government had ever organized a demonstration against the rule of law. No Israeli prime minister had ever urged his supporters to take to the streets and call for the arrests of the state prosecutors and police investigators tasked with handling suspicions of his criminal wrongdoing. But that's what occurred for the first time ever Nov. 26 in front of the Tel Aviv Art Museum. Several thousand ardent fans of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showed up, rather than the larger masses that the Likud predicted, but their message was loud and clear and the event plainly showed that the prime minister is willing to sacrifice the state and its institutions to avoid prosecution.

On the same day, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit addressed a conference of jurists in the southern town of Eilat, mounting an attack of unprecedented ferocity. “We are a state body. We act on its behalf and in its name and represent it in legal proceedings. Sadly, the dignified approach we take is not always embraced by others. I am hearing expressions that don’t have a place in public discourse directed at the law enforcement system and certain senior officials in it. I am hearing threats. I am hearing lies. I am hearing baseless slander. That is simply shocking,” Mandelblit said. He praised state prosecutor Shai Nitzan, who has been specifically targeted by Netanyahu and his allies, as a “civil servant in every bone in his body, a top-notch jurist, an honest and decent man.” He offered similar praise for another target of Netanyahu’s attempts to delegitimize law enforcement authorities, prosecutor Liat Ben Ari, whom he called a “true daughter of lions,” referring to her family name which in Hebrew means “Child of a lion.” “She is a true fighter, guided by the rule of law. The fact that Shai and Liat are walking around with bodyguards merely for doing their jobs is totally inconceivable.”

Those who doubted how far Netanyahu is willing to go to defend himself and his freedom have their answer. He fired the opening salvo on Nov. 21 in his nationally televised response to Mandelblit’s announcement that Netanyahu would stand trial on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. Rather than toning down his rhetoric and facing his problems, Netanyahu stormed the state’s law enforcement bastions, demanding the “investigators be investigated.”

His most zealous acolytes followed suit, with Communications Minister David Amsalem stating in a Nov. 23 television interview, “Liat Ben Ari is a woman who should be in jail.” Ben Ari is the lead prosecutor in the Netanyahu investigations and a driving force behind them. Ben Ari was also the lead prosecutor in the investigations and prosecution of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that eventually led to his conviction and jail time. That Ben Ari and Nitzan have been assigned bodyguards reflects the madness of Netanyahu's Israel. The pro-Netanyahu demonstrators held up signs spewing hatred and denunciation of the legal system and law enforcement authorities. The crowd booed whenever speakers mentioned the names of senior law enforcement officials, and senior journalists critical of Netanyahu were accorded similar treatment.