📖 Ben Caspit - Maariv Hebrew Newspaper:
If we compare Israel to a human body, the beginning of the current chaos was a local infection, inflammation that began to spread, fever, then a high fever.
Then the situation began to deteriorate. The infection spread. Gangrene affected several organs. Antibiotics were of no use.
Doctors tried to intervene, but to no avail. It wasn't an external infection, nor a virus that had leaked from a lab and infiltrated us. It was a self-destructive process, our immune system attacking itself and starting to collapse.
In recent months, the situation has deteriorated to the point of total machine failure. First, we needed an artery ligation, then an urgent amputation, then a major life-saving operation. Today, it's clear we need resuscitation. Or a miracle, or both.
The Bibis' (Netanyahu's followers') maniacal assault on the country is entering its final stages. Their self-confidence is sky-high, and even the sky is no longer the limit for them. They draw inspiration from what is happening overseas, in America. They want to be like Trump, but faster, higher, and stronger.
Rarely does a day pass without a violent, toxic, and blatant attack launched by the "poison machine" of the coalition of thugs against anyone who might pose a threat to it. Now it is the turn of Ronen Bar, the head of the Shin Bet. I pray that he will stand firm, that he will not collapse, that he will not resign under the current pressure, because his surrender will only increase their appetite for one target after another. This is what they have been doing since October 7th: attacking everyone, one by one, settling scores, emptying the arena.
They are working to normalize everything. Even when it becomes clear that the prime minister's staff were involved in stealing top-secret documents, which could compromise intelligence sources and strategic assets if published, they are using this as a pickaxe to continue burying the state.
A coalition has been formed whose goal is to settle scores, not to rebuild the state, revive the economy, restore international standing, or even enhance security. Settling scores, that's what's happening.
1- Let's start with Itamar Ben-Gvir, a former head of the Shin Bet. He once told me, "This is all because of us." When I asked him why, he replied that the Shin Bet was the one who refused to conscript Ben-Gvir into the army, and now he's taking revenge on us. He's never forgiven us for that.
2- Moving on to Bezalel Smotrich. The Shin Bet previously classified him as a terrorist, and I heard this firsthand from Yitzhak Ilan, the Shin Bet's deputy director and one of the agency's most senior interrogators.
Smotrich, who spent a considerable amount of time in detention in the past and was suspected of planning a terror attack on Ayalon Highway, is now exacting his revenge on the Shin Bet. These two—Ben-Gvir and Smotrich—took Kahanist ideas, domesticated them, tamed them, wrapped them in legal language, and funneled them through the back alley to the center of government.
3- Let's turn to the Haredi parties. They are not motivated by revenge, but by domination and control. Their demand is simple: continued comprehensive exemption from military service for yeshiva students, and continued direct and absolute access to the state treasury.
There's no need to elaborate on Aryeh Deri. The man was convicted, imprisoned, returned, convicted again, and removed from the government. Anyone who has known Deri since his early days knows exactly what his true opinion is of Benjamin Netanyahu, but that's irrelevant now. Netanyahu is just a tool. He's the donkey Deri rides on his journey, and no one knows where.
4- Dudi Amsalem, who was taken in handcuffs to court and was recommended to be indicted, and has since vowed to destroy the institutions that dared to investigate him.
5- Moshe Saadeh, who was not appointed head of the Police Investigation Unit (PID), decided to wage war on the PID and the Ministry of Justice.
