The crime minister

“Who benefits from the crime, that is the author”.
Seneca

The concern for democracy that we feel in Mexico seems to be global and in the case of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu could go down in history as the minister of crime for assassinating his country’s.

The controversial judicial reform of his government, against which hundreds of thousands of Israelis have been demonstrating for two months, has been approved in the first reading in the plenary session of the Israeli parliament, and with this it is intended to approve a judicial reform that would give power to the Parliament –with a majority favorable to Netanyahu– to approve laws or norms that the Supreme Court has previously repealed, so that, de facto, the separation of powers in Israel would end.

With the latter, Netanyahu could fulfill the dream of many closet dictators and gain absolute power from the executive, and it is in this sense that this story becomes darker when we realize that the initiative was presented by the current Justice Minister, Yariv Levin, and which also seeks for the Government to have greater influence in the appointment of judges.

It seems that Israel has its own “power mafia” and that with this reform the danger of spreading corruption grows. Because it is clear that Parliament will dominate Justice and that Benjamin Netanyahu’s personal reasons will be put before everything else.

Because the Minister of Crime does not give way without a huarache and in addition to saving his skin, he also seeks to keep his allies happy to maintain the stability of his government.

Netanyahu is accused of bribery, fraud and breach of trust in three cases. He, although he is not obliged to resign until there is a firm conviction. However, the reasons why he urges him to carry out the judicial reform as soon as possible are evident.

The Israeli Prime Minister owes his return to power to a coalition agreement with ultra-Orthodox parties, and now they are the ones pushing him for more power in Parliament.

An example of the latter is the case of Aryeh Deri, appointed Minister of the Interior and dismissed 28 days later by the Supreme Court, considering that it was “extremely unreasonable” and that his latest conviction for tax fraud in February of last year disqualifies him from be part of the government.

Deri, who is part of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party – the second largest party in Netanyahu’s coalition – has threatened to withdraw his support if he is not offered a senior post within the government. For this reason, in order to allow his investiture, a custom law was approved in December that only disqualifies senior public officials who have gone to prison.

As you can see, the accounts payable of the Israeli Prime Minister run at the expense of the citizens and that is why it seems right to me to remember that the prosperity of a crime is quite similar to that of a lightning strike. Because although its colors have a certain beauty, in the end they dazzle and are capable of leaving anyone singed.

Let’s hope that in Mexico, lightning doesn’t strike the INE.

The last one out, turn off the light.
Twitter: @StephanieHenaro