WhatsappU.S. President Donald Trump caused a stir this morning when he posted a scathing critique of Israel’s legal system, calling the ongoing trial of Prime Minister Netanyahu a “witch hunt” and a “travesty of justice.”
It is important to clarify, that it is not right for the US President to interfere in our internal political affairs. However, this “involvement” is nothing like the involvement of the various Obama and Biden administrations that gave millions of dollars to the opposition in Israel to topple Netanyahu.
Regardless, President Trump’s words struck a chord with many Israelis—not just because they defend Netanyahu, but because they point to something much deeper and more dangerous happening in our country.
Let’s be honest: whether or not you support Netanyahu, the fact that our war-time Prime Minister is still being dragged through a years-long legal battle over alleged gifts like cigars & champagne, and media articles that were allegedly arranged by the Prime Minister, during a war, is absurd. But this is not just about one man. The deeper issue is the judicial system itself, and the way it has come to dominate our national life, often at the expense of security, democracy, and even human life.
We need to talk about the role that the legal system is playing in this war. Because while most of the country is focused on defeating Hamas, the unelected legal bureaucracy is imposing restrictions that make that mission harder—and deadlier.
Just yesterday, we lost seven brave IDF soldiers in Gaza. And while battlefield losses are tragic and sometimes unavoidable, these deaths—and many others—are happening in part because of decisions made not by the IDF, but by the Attorney General and the IDF’s Judge Advocate General (JAG). These officials have *forbidden* the military from relocating Gazan civilians away from terrorist strongholds, forcing our troops to operate inside dense civilian areas where Hamas embeds itself behind women and children.
This is not how you win a war. It is how you prolong it.
Even before October 7th, the judicial system had already limited our ability to defend ourselves. IDF soldiers were ordered *not to shoot* at violent rioters at the Gaza fence—even when those rioters were scouting, sabotaging, and preparing the ground for the massacre that followed. Commanders were afraid to act, not because they lacked the will or intelligence, but because they feared legal consequences.
The clearest example of this warped mindset came during the 12-day war with Iran earlier this year. At a time when the Supreme Court was supposed to be limiting itself to emergency matters only, it planned to deliberate on a series of petitions defending the rights of Hamas terrorists, including their prison conditions and visitation rights. This was not satire. It was real. And it was only stopped due to intense public backlash. But it revealed something terrifying: that even in the middle of a war for Israel’s very survival, our top legal authorities saw *defending the comfort of terrorists* as a higher priority than ensuring the security of Israeli citizens.
On top of that, more than a year has passed since the circulation of a doctored video that sparked what has come to be known as the Sde Teiman “blood libel” — a false and damaging accusation against IDF soldiers, alleging torture and abuse of jailed October. 7th Hamas terrorists.
The video, widely believed to have been manipulated, was reportedly produced and leaked with thealleged involvement of senior officials within Israel’s legal establishment who had access to the jail facility video cameras, raising serious concerns about internal sabotage and the politicization of legal institutions.
Despite the gravity of the accusations and their potential to damage the reputation of the IDF, no formal investigation has been launched into the origins of the video or the motives behind its dissemination, even though only a small amount of legal officials could have been involved.
The continued silence from the state and legal authorities has fueled speculation of a deliberate cover-up, eroding public confidence in the integrity of both the military justice system and the national justice system.
How can we defeat our enemies when our legal own system is more committed to the “rights” of barbaric murderers than to the right of Israelis to live, and preferring to prosecute our own holy soldiers on fake charges than punishing the actual barbaric terrorists who murdered our people?
This is not a healthy democracy. This is not moral. And this is not sustainable.
Judicial reform is not about canceling a trial or helping Netanyahu. It is about restoring a balance of power in Israel, so that elected leaders, not unelected judges or legal advisors, can make the crucial decisions about war, security, and strategy. Judicial reform is necessary not to protect politicians, but to protect soldiers. To protect civilians. To win our wars.
Trump may have said it bluntly, but he’s not wrong: the system is broken. And if we want to win this war in Gaza and save our hostages quickly, as well as prevent future terror attacks against our civilians, we need to fix this moral inversion in our justice system asap.
The war against Hamas is not just being fought in the tunnels of Gaza. It’s also being fought in the courts, in the corridors of legal power, and in the minds of those who still believe this is just about cigars and Netanyahu. It’s not.
This is about whether Israel can truly defend itself and govern itself. And right now, the answer is: not fully. Not until we fix this broken, immoral, justice system.
