Another day has passed in a country where democracy thrives.
Look at some of the news from early January 2023:
- A woman who came back from an anti-judicial reform protest was detained while trying to get on a train.
- Yesh Atid MK Elazar Stern received a threat over the phone that someone would throw a grenade at his home.
- A driver ran amok near a Yesh Atid student protest in Beersheba, shouting "Leftist anarchist, you destroyed the country" and almost ran over them.
- And the icing on the cake: A junior MK (Zvika Fogel) from the most extreme faction in the Knesset during an interview with KAN called to arrest current and former MKs from the opposition on the grounds that they betrayed Israel because they called on the public to protest.
One minister even supported him and the prime minister even chose to remain silent.
These are the facts.
For a human being with basic concern and compassion, these events are startling. It includes intimidation, threat of physical violence, a dangerous confrontation and finally, actual incitement and presenting a large part of the public as traitors.
All of these are directed at people who dared to express opposition to the government.
How Oded Ben-Ami responded to the news
With all this in mind, you should have watched Oded Ben-Ami's amazing and strange monologue on 6:00 with...
With a heavy voice and a despondent look, he said the following: "You look around and realize that actions are taken, decisions are made and statements are said at such a dizzying pace that it is difficult for any reasonable person to understand them and their nature and to nkow what to do with them."
Later, he listed the examples given above as well as other examples and concluded: "And this government isn't even two weeks old."
Ben-Ami spoke with a student who was near the confrontation in Beersheba and also with MK Stern and the protester detained by the train. He also tried to get Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter to condemn Fogel's disturbing words, but he, in his disgust, only agreed to say that he would have chosen better words.
But the most important moment came at the beginning of the broadcast. There, Ben-Ami looks so exhausted and defeated in the face of it all, wearing an expression of disgust.
The events are described in general terms, but when he added descriptions of violence, they seemed far more concrete.
"You look around," Ben-Ami said, and what he actually added unconsciously is: "And I can't believe what we will become."