Herzog pans coalition rhetoric against AG and security chiefs as ‘absolute madness’
In harshly worded address, president says physical and verbal violence, including against Netanyahu, is ‘horrifying’ and could tear country apart
Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
Hinting at recent statements by government ministers, President Isaac Herzog warned in a sharply worded address on Thursday that the escalating political discourse in Israel threatened to tear the country apart.
Speaking at the Higher Education Conference in Herzliya, the president panned “accusations against the head of the Shin Bet and the IDF chief of staff of treason and an attempted coup, accusations against the attorney general of being an enemy of the state that is trying to kill us, and nonstop threats of firing.”
Supporters of Netanyahu online — including his son Yair — regularly accuse the IDF and Shin Bet of trying to overthrow the democratically elected government.
On Sunday, members of the government attacked Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara for perceived leniency toward anti-government protesters and Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi called for her to be fired.
“The attorney general must go home today,” Karhi said.
“If someone comes to kill you — including through weakness and agreement through silence — rise up and fire them,” he said, paraphrasing a line from the Talmud about self-defense that says, “If someone comes to kill you, rise up and kill them first.”
Diaspora Affairs Minister Amihai Chikli similarly slammed Baharav-Miara, claiming that she was preventing the rule of law from being implemented equally across Israeli society.
In a post on X, Chikli demanded the “immediate impeachment” of the attorney general, who he said has caused “unprecedented damage to the rule of law and public order.”
The calls for her ouster also came on the heels of her opposition to a government proposal to regulate retirement packages for government legal advisers and compel those who have served more than seven years to retire before the end of 2024. A legal opinion published by the Attorney General’s Office on Sunday warned that such a move could be intended to remove officials who act “as gatekeepers” of democracy.
On Wednesday night, some 150 right-wing demonstrators gathered outside Baharav-Miara’s Tel Aviv home to demand her ouster. Police worked to keep the protesters separate from a counterdemonstration that attracted roughly twice as many people.
Speaking at the right-wing protest, activist Shay Kallach assailed the counterprotesters as the “radical left.” He then asks the crowd what they would do to the attorney general.
“Fire her!” they yelled.
“You’re too gentle,” replied Kallach. “She needs to be banished!”
In his speech on Thursday, Herzog also lambasted anti-Netanyahu demonstrators for firing flares at the prime minister’s home over the weekend, and for accusing him of treason.
Three people were arrested in the early hours of Sunday morning after a pair of flares were fired at Netanyahu’s private residence in Caesarea and landed in the yard. A fourth suspect was arrested later.
No damage was reported in the incident and a joint statement from the security bodies noted that Netanyahu and his family were not home at the time.
“The physical and verbal violence – towards the attorney general, towards the head of the Shin Bet, towards the IDF chief of staff, towards the prime minister – is simply horrifying,” lamented Herzog.
Herzog also blasted “disparaging and humiliating treatment toward hostage families.”
Families of the hostages held in Gaza have been threatened online, harassed verbally, and pushed around by police at demonstrations. “We receive quite a few curses on the networks, people who call us traitorous leftists and say ‘I hope they die there,’” a representative of hostage families told the now-defunct war cabinet earlier this year.
“What the hell is happening to us?” Herzog asked. “Does this make sense? Haven’t we suffered enough? Haven’t we already understood that this harms the country’s security?”
“Don’t we understand that this is how you break up a country?” he continued, calling the incidents “absolute madness.”
“There are those who sacrifice themselves for the country, and pay with their lives every day,” said Herzog, referring to IDF soldiers in Gaza and Lebanon. “And there are those who are destroying the country, and I pledge that I will fight them with all my might.”
After the firing of the flares earlier this week, Herzog issued a similar warning. “These flames must not be allowed to escalate. I am again warning against an increase in violence in the public sphere,” he posted on X.
