Raze the government, says Herzog, echoing reviled ‘bulldozer’ comment

Hours after a Knesset member came under harsh opprobrium for apparently calling for the razing of the Supreme Court, opposition head Isaac Herzog used the same analogy to say the government should be bulldozed.

The comments from the Zionist Union head came during a stormy overnight Knesset session before the parliament called a recess for the summer.

“I have an idea,” Herzog said, addressing the Knesset. “A D-9 must be taken to this government. A full year has passed without a budget — a full year.”

The government has become a “political farce,” said Herzog, adding the he would continue to oppose it “in every which way.”

Herzog also condemned the “terrible” comment by Jewish Home MK Moti Yogev on Wednesday that “we have to take the blade of a D-9 [bulldozer] to the Supreme Court.”

Yogev, a vocal advocate of the settlement movement, made his comment immediately after a High Court of Justice ruling Wednesday morning upholding the court’s own demolition order against two illegal buildings, called the Dreinoff project, in the West Bank settlement of Beit El.

Yogev’s comment was followed by severe blowback from fellow politicians, including from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and former court figures.

On Thursday morning, former court president Dorit Beinisch told Army Radio that Netanyahu’s condemnation of Yogev’s comment came “too late.”

“The prime minister’s reaction was very important, but I will say, cautiously, that it came too little, too late,” Beinisch said.

She told the radio that the D-9 comment is not the only “outrageous and worrisome” statement made against the legal body.

“The court cannot operate under a constant threat by members of the legislature,” she said.

Lawmakers from across the political spectrum slammed Yogev Wednesday after he appeared to call for the destruction of the Supreme Court building in Jerusalem.

“Israel is a law-abiding democracy that respects the court’s decision,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “That’s how it always was, and how it will be.”

The prime minister “categorically rejects the statements against the Supreme Court,” the statement said.

“The Supreme Court is an important and eminent institution. I don’t always agree with its rulings, but they must be respected,” Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, from Yogev’s own party, said in an address to the Knesset plenum on Wednesday afternoon. “Of course I disavow” Yogev’s comments, she said.

Education Minister Naftali Bennett, head of the Jewish Home party, told Israel Radio Wednesday that he had reprimanded the lawmaker in a private conversation.

Other lawmakers called for disciplinary and legal action against Yogev.

MK Yoel Hasson (Zionist Union) filed an official complaint with the parliament’s Ethics Committee over what he said amounted a call for violence by Yogev.

“In light of his statements, I demand that every statutory tool possible be used against him,” he told the committee.

Added Hasson, “MK Yogev is attempting to harm democracy with his wild and unambiguous incitement. Instead of calming the storm and calling for the protesters to respect the rule of law, MK Yogev is calling for out-and-out violence.”

Bulldozers began tearing down the buildings in Beit El at midday Wednesday, after the High Court turned down a 11th-hour petition against the demolition, ruling the buildings were situated on private Palestinian land that was seized by the IDF in the 1970s. There were reports of clashes between settlers and security forces at the site.

MK Michal Rozin (Meretz) said she had “turned to the attorney general asking him to file an urgent indictment on suspicion that Yogev’s statements go beyond the framework of his immunity as a member of Knesset.”

Yogev’s comment, Rozin charged, amounts to “sedition against the state.”

Yogev responded to the outpouring of criticism in a Facebook post, saying his statement was meant as “a metaphor.”

The judiciary, he charged, was “aggressive in its judicial activism, and has unilaterally claimed the mantle of leadership and decision making, deciding where the tractor’s blade is used to destroy Jewish settlement, and on the other hand where illegal construction in the Arab sector can be authorized.”

Yogev’s explanation did nothing to stop the deluge of criticism.

“How dare they call themselves the ‘national camp’ and attack the rule of law and the court?” demanded Yesh Atid party leader MK Yair Lapid.

Judah Ari Gross and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.