Senior lawyer sparks outcry with warning of armed uprising against government

A top Israeli attorney sparked an outcry at a legal conference in Eilat when he told a panel he would be willing to take up arms against the government if they pursue their judicial overhaul.

“I won’t live a day under a dictatorship,” says David Hodek, who also won a Medal of Courage, one of the Israeli military’s highest awards, for his conduct as a tank officer in the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

“If someone dares to force me to live in a dictatorship, and I have no other choice — I will fight against him with live fire,” says Hodek who was participating in a panel on the reforms, which critics say will undermine democracy.

Hodek, a leading commercial lawyer in Israel, says the government underestimates the anger and opposition towards its plans.

“As an adult in Israel I was taught two things, how to be a lawyer and how to fight — I believe this government does not understand what a quagmire it is entering,” he says.