Writing the above line, makes me feel like Captain Kirk on the Starship Enterprise updating his daily log. You recall the earlier episodes always started:
‘’Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before!’’
Later, the episodes would start with:
"Captain's log. Stardate 4513.3.’’ (Followed by an update of the whereabouts of the Enterprise or the situation facing the Starship and her crew.)
Although never a ‘Trekkies’, as I believe followers of the series were called, I do recall watching a number of the earlier episodes.
Star Trek came to mind in recent days with the realization that the captain of Starship Israel has abandoned his post on the bridge. Not only has the captain shirked his duties, with many of the crew revolting – in both meanings of the word.
The Starship Israel is daily moving closer to a major catastrophe, that few, in the crew, seem to comprehend as the infighting continues. Tradition dictates that the captain goes down with his ship, except in this case where the captain holds everyone else responsible for the impending disaster. His hands are squeaky clean.
It’s time for a change in Israel, it’s time for our ‘’Spring’’. In short, it is time for a revolution. I don’t mean fighting on the streets, civil war, but rather an upheaval and the sweeping away with the tried, the unworkable current system in Israel.
Change is needed and needed quickly before it’s too late. As I have written in the past the Black Flag movement should be studying the playbook of Gandhi and MLK, understanding the fine points of civil disobedience. In doing so, and adopting their tactics, it is worth remembering that here in Israel, the police are not the enemy. They have a thankless task upholding policies which many, if not all, decry.
If you doubt that, just read this article which is rightly critical of Public Security Minister Amir Ohana, one of ‘Crime’ Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s most loyal poodles. (In fact, at times it’s tough trying to decide who is the #1 poodle, Miki Zohar or Amir Ohana.)
“Top police officials slam minister for pushing to quash anti-government protests’’
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/top-police-officials-slam-minister-for-pushing-to-quash-anti-government-protests/
Telling, are the following two paragraphs from the article, ‘’He” being Ohana:
"He tries every day to intervene in the police work in the field, even though that isn’t his job,” an unnamed official is quoted as saying by Channel 13.’’
and
“He is trying to destroy police, just like he ruined the Justice Ministry,” the source adds, referring to Ohana’s former post as justice minister, when he clashed repeatedly with law enforcement officials.’’
The Black Flag movement needs a song to rouse and sustain moral. Of course, there is the "Hatikvah". But thinking about MLK and civil disobedience, the full, later version of “We Shall Overcome” comes to mind as does another 1960s powerful protest song “A Change Is Gonna Come”. If you are not familiar with this song, which has a long history of being associated with political struggle, I suggest you go to YouTube and listen to the late Sam Cooke’s version. Listen with your heart, the lyrics will bring tears to your eyes.
Sometimes, particularly in this dark, challenging period, we need a good laugh. I have been lucky in having a number in the past couple of days. Here is one:
We have Yamina MK Bezalel Smotrich, calling the protesters “anarchist criminals who do not like the law and democratic decision-making.”
and
“You are a violent and arrogant minority, who have become accustomed to feeling that you are the lords of the land, above the law and above democracy,”
https://www.timesofisrael.com/mk-calls-for-probe-claiming-police-crossed-the-line-at-anti-pm-protests/
By the way, this is the very same Bezalel Smotrich, who was arrested in 2005 for his role in the opposition to the government policy of the disengagement from Gaza.
But hey, that’s OK, we expect most of our MKs to be two-faced.