Some No Longer Believe the Prime Minister Can Violate the Rule of Law - He Is the Law

When loyalty to the Prime Minister is seen as loyalty to the law itself, Israel risks replacing democracy with rule by decree—undermining the very foundations of the rule of law.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives to the courtroom at the Distrcit court in Tel Aviv. Photo by Moti Milrod/Pool

The affidavit presented to the Supreme Court by Ronen Bar reveals facts that, if even partially true, should deeply alarm anyone who believes in and aspires to live in a democratic state grounded in the rule of law and fundamental rights.

Given their gravity, one might expect the affidavit’s revelations to lead any reader to one of two possible conclusions: either Bar is not telling the truth — as implied by the Prime Minister’s response — or we are facing a genuine threat to Israeli democracy.

However, Channel 14 – a pro-Netanyahu news channel – offered a third possibility.  Immediately following the affidavit’s release, a headline on the screen declared “Bar Admits He Acted Against Prime Minister's Orders Repeatedly.”  After all, Bar admitted, for instance, that he was instructed to act against protestors and did not do so because he found no legal grounds.

In other words, the starting premise is that Bar is telling the truth — but that he incriminated himself by confessing he failed to comply with the Prime Minister’s orders. As if he were just another employee claiming unlawful dismissal, only to inadvertently admit that he violated the employer’s instructions.

Assuming this interpretation reflects a real position held by a significant part of the Israeli public, Channel 14’s headline suggests that the disagreement we now face may not lie in the facts — but in a fundamental view of the rule of law in a democracy.

The central question this position poses is not whether the Prime Minister instructed the Shin Bet Director to act unlawfully, but rather: does the Shin Bet Director’s subordination to the Prime Minister (which is undisputed) create an obligation to carry out every directive — even if it contradicts court rulings, violates democratic principles, or lacks legal authority?

If so, the implication is singular: the Shin Bet Director is no longer subject to the rule of law, but solely to the prime minister. Because the prime minister is the law.

Such a position threatens the most basic tenet of democracy — that all are subject to the rule of law: the Prime Minister, the Shin Bet Director, and every citizen alike. That subordination is to the republic, not the ruler.

But if this position indeed reflects the interpretation held even by some government ministers and supporters, then we are no longer merely facing the risk of a constitutional crisis where the government defies judicial rulings in isolated cases. Rather, we are confronting the more foundational question of whether the government, or its leader, is subject at all to the law or to the core principles of a democratic regime.

The 2023 Israeli Democracy Index, published by the Israel Democracy Institute, found that 35% of the public believes that any decision made by the government — if backed by a Knesset majority — is inherently democratic. By contrast, 50% of the public holds that a decision made by a majority that contradicts core democratic values is not democratic—indeed, the latter view aligns with the core principles of democracy. For example, even if a majority of the public and its elected officials support passing a law that allows political candidates to pay citizens for their vote, this law would not be democratic, and intervention through checks and balances would be called for. If a prime minister fires an appointee for refusing to act unlawfully, this, too, would not be democratic. Protections against corruption and limits on executive power are inherent to the democratic process.   

The worldview expressed in Channel 14’s headline contradicts the notion of substantive democracy. It promotes a conception that collapses democracy into a state where the rule of law and government action are one and the same — and that is not what democracy looks like. We must ensure that the Israeli public, its leaders, and its institutions understand and uphold the key principles of democracy.

 This column was published in the Jerusalem Post.