The war of liberation from dictatorial rule has been declared, we must go to the end.

January 23, 2023   

In this week's parasha, "Come to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart," the people of Israel came out of slavery to freedom, but Pharaoh had to receive three more blows before he actually freed the people of Israel. Anyone who saw the gathering held today in honor of Rabbi Aryeh Deri, with the participation of the Prime Minister and all the coalition members, saw the beginnings of the war of liberation of the people of Israel from the hands of the dictatorial regime. We will reestablish here the democracy that was lost in recent years. We stood here in the Knesset and spoke, but the ones who made the decisions were the supreme judges, here from the building next door, in the Supreme Court. For many years, I have argued that the fact that they still give ultra-Orthodox Jews the right to vote is not a given. The day may come when they will deny us that too. We have heard statements here that "they have no right to establish a party without women." Tomorrow they will say they have no right to establish a party with old men. Once they are the owners of the house - there is no democracy. But why talk about the future? Let's talk about what has already happened: They boldly denied the right to vote of 400,000 Shas voters and two and a half million Jews who voted for this government, using the legal pretext of "reasonableness." I won't get into this matter of "silencing," which everyone knows is a lie. After all, every citizen in Israel knew that Rabbi Deri resigned from the Knesset only for that term. But the court ignored it. Whoever denied 400,000 Shas voters the right to vote of Rabbi Deri as minister will deny the right to vote of all ultra-Orthodox Jews, then all settler Jews, and then the right to vote will remain only in the hands of the privileged, as was the case in ancient Greece. Denying the appointment of a minister is tantamount to denying the right to vote of his voters. After all, the government derives its authority from the members of the Knesset, who were appointed by the people. By the way, the judiciary should also be elected by the public, as is the case in the United States and all democratic countries. But for now, we are an anti-democratic country. That a group lives between Rehavia and northern Tel Aviv, and they legislate the laws, appoint themselves, and seize power. Who deny the Knesset the right to legislate and budget contrary to the opinion of the rulers in the High Court. Today the War of Liberation was declared. We must go with this to the end, we will establish democracy, we will preserve the rights of the minority, because who, like us, as a minority, knows how to preserve the rights of the minority. Not like you pretend to preserve our rights, but you have never done that. The public representatives in the Knesset are responsible for protecting the rights of the minority from the government. Not the judges who have never defended the people's door.