The strength of an institution is judged in the hard case. When Americans say they value free speech, they mean that they will protect the speech of those they abhor. They will protect the speech of Nazis because the principle of free speech is more important than their hate of this particular use of speech.
In Israel, if there is one institution that has been at risk of degradation more than any other over the last few years, it is equal application of the rule of law.
What may have happened at the Sde Teiman detention facility, and the attempt of radical civilians and politicians to circumvent a legal process of investigation and overrule military jurisdiction, is just one of the most recent and blatant examples of the weakening rule of law.
Why is this the hard case? Because there is no one easier to dehumanize than the Nukhba terrorist. They have committed the worst crimes imaginable. I share in this struggle; I find it difficult to care about the rights of those directly responsible for the murder of my family members.Regardless of the crime, torture is never an acceptable form of punishment. Sexual assault can never be normalized for any reason. If this happened, which we will only know after an investigation, it must result in punishment. The state may decide to apply capital punishment to those who killed, raped and maimed civilians on October 7, after an investigation and trial to ascertain who in custody committed which crimes.
However, individuals do not have the authority to punish even those most deserving of punishment. That is what separates anarchy from a governed society. In one, vigilantism thrives; in the other, the state decides whether a crime was committed and how that crime should be punished.
The details of this story are only one important aspect. What was truly shocking for many to watch was the brazenness of MKs and radicals infiltrating a military base to bar a legal process from taking place. Their ideological leader sits in the parliament and controls the police force. They do not believe the law applies to them. Unless the law is enforced, they may be correct.
Encountering dangerous attitudes in Israeli society
This dangerous attitude can be seen in many parts of Israeli society, from the yeshivot that continued to function despite COVID lockdown protocols to the settlers who take the law into their own hands in the West Bank with no repercussions. There is a growing population in our country who believe the law does not apply to them and that they can harm others – and they are proven right. The state must make it crystal clear: Whether in Tel Aviv, the prime minister’s office, or the occupied territories, no one is above the law and violent crime will be prosecuted.
Not all institutions should be maintained; some are immoral. The Nuremberg laws were immoral, Jim Crow were immoral, and systems of separation and discrimination were immoral. However, those that we find good use for should be practiced devoutly. I use the word “practice” because one lesson we must take away from the last decade is that institutions rely either in part or in whole on norms, and when we disregard a norm, we allow for its erosion over time. The law is worth nothing if it is not enforced. It means very little if it is only applied sometimes.
FOR THOSE who are yet to be convinced as to why this norm is so important and whether it even matters materially for their own lives: Without the rule of law, there is no equal protection, there are no civil rights, there is a dramatic decline in defense, and there is no economic prosperity. Beyond the obvious effect of a decline in foreign direct investment and loss of trade partnerships (or even sanctions), the very basis of capitalism relies on private property, which relies on a strong legal system to protect that property. Even the most ardent supporter of Israel will hesitate to invest in assets that could be expropriated or vandalized by a mob, with no legal recourse.
We seem to forget that we do depend on others in the international system to supply us, defend us (whether in international organizations or from a drone barrage from Iran), and invest in us. We are not entitled to their support, and we must prove that we deserve these relations in maintaining what we have left of a democratic system and working towards a more just future. If we are not progressing towards the goals we have convinced others and ourselves that we cherish, they will lose their faith in us, and we will start to question our own.
Sde Teiman will be a momentary news item in a year of unbearably short and tragic news cycles. It will roll over in the same way that other stories of challenges to the rule of law have rolled over in the last few years. Sde Teiman is important, but it’s about more than just this incident. The question is whether we will continue to live in a functioning state or descend to the level of corruption we see across our borders – and whether we even care.
In the absence of the rule of law, we need not fear our enemies from without, for we will surely collapse from within.
The writer is an Israeli Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford, where she is completing her MPhil in International Relations.