I fear we have reached a stage in Israel’s political life whereby its democratic system is being threatened. The threat stems from non-elected appointed officials and employees of state institutions. The so-called “Deep State” is now a very popular term. However, a 1964 book by David Wise and Thomas Ross, The Invisible Government, is more relevant.
The book provided insight into concerns about the pervasive, ongoing influence of the military, intelligence services, and entrenched bureaucratic bodies and officials on democratic governance.
Perhaps the most insightful presentation we citizens were provided regarding how this ruling structure works was the Yes, Minister BBC series of the 1980s. In one episode, Principal Private Secretary Bernard Woolley asks, “But surely the citizens of a democracy have a right to know,” with Sir Humphrey Appleby, permanent secretary for the fictional Department of Administrative Affairs, replying, “No. They have a right to be ignorant.”
Here in Israel, most of the citizens actually do know much about the workings of government but, except for voting, have no real democratic power to assure the government follows through on its platform. Worse, those who are elected are constantly stymied and, in a growing development over the past two decades, administrative officials are proactively opposing government policy.
While this situation made for great comedy in England, Israel’s reality has mutated more into a “Dark State.”
Dark State: The alleged bureaucratic manipulations of Israeli democracy
By “Dark State,” I refer to network structures and governance that coordinate their respective responsibilities in a collaborative manner as devices to attend to public management problems and to pursue political, social, and economic action. What is at the core of this is whether these officials are following the letter of the law or pursuing personal and/or ideological agendas.
Are they attempting to monopolize the authority granted them instead of simply assisting the enactment of government policy? Are they deciding by themselves and for themselves how the government is to be run, or do they accept the framework of bureaucratic limitations?
To recall another exchange, Minister Jim Hacker berates Humphrey, “You’re supposed to enact my policies… why [do] you seem implacably opposed to them? I must know where you stand on all this.” Sir Humphrey counters, “Where one stands, minister, depends upon where one sits.” However, there is something more particularly dangerous to our democracy.
What we should be observing is that bureaucrats manipulate not only the police and the secret intelligence services but also the judicial arm of government, which should be equal to the executive branch, even in a parliamentary democracy.
Meanwhile, a supposedly independent media mostly ignores the ramifications of these bureaucrats’ actions, such as the arrest of a journalist, and at times, cheers encouragingly. Channel 12’s Guy Peleg repeatedly announcing, “Netanyahu is a danger to the state, more than any of its enemies,” comes to mind.
Yes, Minister highlighted a “creaking old bureaucratic machine”. In Israel, it is a quite well-oiled multiplex conglomerate and functions very well.
To illustrate this, let’s reconsider the case of Eyal Yaffe. He is a prominent member of an affiliate of the anti-Netanyahu Kaplan Camp protestors called Lochamei Kippur 73 (Fighters from the Yom Kippur War in 1973) and has even met and been photographed with President Isaac Herzog at the latter’s mansion.
Following his arrest for sexually assaulting a border policewoman, a search of his home was conducted. A small arms cache was allegedly discovered.
If the cache had been found in the house of a prominent leader of the Yesha Council (the umbrella organization representing communities in Judea and Samaria) or a haredi (ultra-Orthodox) rosh yeshiva (yeshiva head), we would have been reading headlines claiming that a new underground had been uncovered.
Not only the police but the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) would have become involved. Anyone else who had spoken words that could have been construed as threatening or inciting would have been called in to an investigation at the minimum.
In the case of Eyal Yaffe’s arms cache, the Shin Bet Jewish Department did not raid any of the anti-judicial reform leaders. Even those who have called for violence and even “war” were not detained, arrested, nor questioned; not Ehud Barak, not Ehud Olmert, not Dan Halutz, nor any other of a dozen leaders whose violent statements have been recorded over the past several years.
As attorney Adi Ben-Hur wrote last week, “If it were just one ‘settler,’ all of Yitzhar would be in lockdown.” Yet, not a peep was heard from the Shin Bet’s Ronen Bar, who can be very vocal, and Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara has not issued any instructions to the police – a matter of selective investigation and prosecution.
Consider, too, the hullabaloo over the links between two of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s aides and Qatar. In the first instance, news reports were full of suspicions that they were in touch with an enemy agent. But Qatar is not defined as an ”enemy state,” which is especially fortuitous for National Unity chair Benny Gantz.
In September 2024, Gantz, an opposition MK, met with Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister to promote the release of Israel’s hostages. As this paper noted at that time, “Gantz is believed to have a close personal relationship with the Qatari prime minister, which goes back to the former’s days in the Defense Ministry.”
Back in August 2021, then-defense minister Gantz said he had been in touch with Qatar, with full permission, to ensure a mechanism for money coming into Gaza. Additionally, there’s also the Fifth Dimension affair and Gantz’s business links with John R. Allen, who was under investigation for secretly lobbying on behalf of Qatar.
Yes, it’s all a matter of where one sits.
Could the suspicions of treason have been a smokescreen aimed more at Netanyahu, who employed the supposed “traitors” in his office? Were they also bandied about to increase support for Baharav-Miara to declare incapacity charges against the prime minister? Is this QatarGate, or will it be a QatarFake?
The Sir Humphrey character deserves one more quotation: “Bernard, if the right people don’t have power, do you know what happens? The wrong people get it: politicians, councilors, ordinary voters!” To which Bernard responded, “But aren’t they supposed to, in a democracy?”
The writer is a researcher, analyst, and commentator on political, cultural, and media issues.
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