Ehud Barak calls for mass civil disobedience as government defies court ruling

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has issued a stark warning that non-violent mass disobedience may be the only remaining option for opposing the government, after ministers unanimously rejected a Supreme Court ruling. In comments published following the cabinet’s decision, Barak suggested that if opposition leaders do not lead such a movement, ordinary citizens will take matters into their own hands.Barak’s intervention reflects deepening tensions over the government’s refusal to accept judicial authority. The former premier warned that a government willing to defy court orders on this scale cannot be trusted to respect election results, raising serious questions about the functioning of Israel’s democratic institutions.The call for civil disobedience represents an escalation in rhetoric from Israel’s political establishment. Barak’s suggestion that public resistance may become inevitable if opposition figures fail to organise it indicates the level of concern among senior figures about the government’s willingness to operate outside legal constraints.The statement underscores a fundamental constitutional crisis within Israel, where the judiciary and executive branches are engaged in an unprecedented confrontation over the limits of governmental power and the rule of law.

Source: Ynet — Original article in Hebrew.