Probing Netanyahu, or overthrowing him by undemocratic means?

What does “preliminary examination” mean? The many reporters, politicians, pundits, and activists that are trying to uncover the truth and separate fact from fiction are mostly in the dark. What they know for certain is only this: Israel’s Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, a Binyamin Netanyahu appointee from just a few months ago, acknowledged yesterday that he ordered to probe allegations against the Prime Minister. What is his office “probing?” There are leaks, rumors, insinuations, wise guesses and wild guesses. But there is very little solid information. It appears to be an investigation into a transfer of funds from a wealthy person to a person close to Netanyahu – a transfer that the police suspects was actually illegal financial support for the Prime Minister.

Netanyahu, naturally, denies any wrong doing. That is to say: it is reasonable to assume that many of the facts will be clear and that their interpretation is the key. The police and the state attorneys will need to decide whether what Netanyahu did was illegal – even though his attorneys and him will say that it was perfectly legal and in line with their understanding of the law.

Israel has been down this road many times in recent years. Netanyahu was probed during the Nineties; his successor, Ehud Barak, was probed; his successor’s successor, Ariel Sharon, was probed; and his successor’s successor’s successor, Ehud Olmert, was probed, tried, and found guilty. Only when the facts become clearer will we know which of these investigations the Netanyahu probe resembles most. Possibly, the so-called Greek Island probe, in which it was discovered that Ariel Sharon’s son, Gilad, was the beneficiary of a hefty salary from a businessman for which he did what appears to be little work.

The “examination” or “probe” – depends on one’s choice of translation – is short of an “investigation.” This means that the AG is still in the preliminary stage of this affair. Maybe there will be an “investigation” later on, maybe not. One thing the AG did clarify yesterday: “In recent days, many reports – which are inaccurate, to say the least – have been published in the media regarding information pertaining to an examination and to actions that were allegedly taken as part of it. Naturally, we will not be able to refer to these reports or to elaborate as to the process of the examination at this stage.” This refers to a media frenzy that is fed by a political frenzy. The smell of political blood is in the water – Netanyahu’s blood – and this smell might be an opportunity to change horses.

This is one of the troubling aspects of the probe, one on which there is plenty of information available to anyone who bothers to make a phone call. Netanyahu’s rivals, from within the Likud Party and in other parties, Netanyahu’s detractors in the media, Netanyahu’s critics among the public – are eager to hype the meager information about his supposed wrongdoing. They are ready to believe every rumor and then spread it further with vengeance. They assume he is guilty – the only question they have is whether this time he will finally be caught. Of course, they might be right. It is possible that Netanyahu engaged in illegal activity. Only time – and the investigators – will tell.

In the meantime, it is disturbing to see so many Israelis wanting to get rid of the Prime Minister by circumventing the democratic system. It is disturbing to see so many Israelis craving Netanyahu’s fall not through the usual process of election. The evidence is everywhere: Netanyahu’s rivals – mostly left of him but also many within his own camp – have reached the conclusion that he cannot be toppled by usual means. He is too strong, too smart, too good at manipulating the political system, too efficient in sabotaging any plot against him. These people want him gone, and if the way to make it happen is having him investigated, so be it.

This tendency is also not a first-timer. The case of Ehud Olmert was somewhat similar. Of course, Olmert was found guilty, so there is a strong case to be made in favor of his investigations. And yet, one suspects that it wasn’t exactly a coincidence that the Olmert investigation picked up as his popularity, following the second Lebanon war, deteriorated. Olmert essentially lost his leadership position after the war. The two years that followed were merely a process of his gradual decline and ultimate fall.

Wanting Netanyahu to go is no sin. Passionately wanting him to go is no evil. Netanyahu is a dividing figure, and his term as Prime Minister is problematic in many ways. He is also not the most enchanting leader – he does not have the charm of Ariel Sharon, nor the endearing down-to-earth manners of Yizhak Rabin. The fact that many Israelis want Netanyahu gone is nothing to wonder about – nor worry about.

And yet, the fact that many of them want him gone by whatever means (hopefully short of violence) is disturbing. It is testimony to the fact that all those Netanyahu detractors, who constantly complain about him moving Israel in an undemocratic direction, are in fact much less “democratic” than he is. They are tired of him, and are just as tired of Israeli society. They are tired of trying to convince the voters that Netanyahu is evil. Two years ago, writing for the New York Times under the headline Who Killed the Israeli Left, I argued that “the more the left invited foreign pressure on Israel, the less legitimate its actions became in the eyes of non-leftist Israelis.”

My theory was simple: the left, rather than doing what it needs to do – that is, convince Israelis that its prescribed policies are better for Israel than the policies of the right – did what was convenient – that is, try to win over Israel by inviting outside pressure.

What we currently see with the Netanyahu investigation hype (not the actual “probe”; we have little information about the seriousness of the probe) is quite similar. It is the hype of people whose thinking is as follows: we know that Netanyahu is bad for Israel. We have failed to convince the public that Netanyahu is bad for Israel. Let us convince the public, or merely the justice system, that he is a criminal. Let us get rid of an elected Prime Minister by probing him to exhaustion.

Coming on the heels of the Olmert overthrow, this is becoming a troubling trend. Like many Israelis, I also do not want a criminal to be my Prime Minister. But it seems that, unlike many, I prefer to a have democratically elected Prime Minister – even if this means that I will have to wait a long time for a Prime Minister more to my liking – over getting my Prime Minister replaced with the help of the justice system.