If we were not living in times of extreme incitement and violent discourse, perhaps what we have been hearing recently from some members of our new government, would not have been taken so seriously.
If these were "normal" times, Wednesday's calls by legislator Zvika Fogel, from Itamar Ben-Gvir's Otzma Yehudit faction to arrest former Prime Minister Yair Lapid and former Defense Minister Benny Gantz, would have been chalked up to sheer stupidity. We've heard plenty of stupidity expressed by elected leaders in the past, and have always survived.
But, these are not normal times and Fogel is not some fringe commentator online, vying for likes on social media. He is a member of the coalition, tapped to head the Knesset Public Security Committee in one of the most volatile periods of our nation.
To claim that Lapid, Gantz, former IDF chief Moshe Ya'alon and former Deputy Chief of Staff Yair Golan are dangerous, is not only stupid but can incite those on the extreme right to action.
Each side, both left and right have been accusing the other of incitement. National Security Minister Ben-Gvir told police commanders to apply more force against anti-government protesters. The demonstrators, meanwhile, have been urging more people to come out to the streets as a challenge to the minister.
Fogel received the backing of his faction, but that was no surprise. It was Ben-Gvir, of all people, who tried to tone down the severity of Fogel's words. He said no purpose would be served by arresting Opposition leaders, and suggested using different phrasing.
"Call them inciters, instigators," he suggested, incredibly assuming the position of responsible adult.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remained silent - in a move that has become his standard practice. He left Fogel's calls to arrest his political opponents without response or condemnation for hours on end.
Only through reports of his discussion with President Issac Herzog late on Tuesday, a comment from the prime minister emerged. "In a Democracy, opposition leaders are not arrested," Netanyahu told the president. "Just like there should be no calls for civil uprising," he added.
Herzog, who voiced his concern over the violent rhetoric, spoke out after protesters were almost run over by a Haredi supporter of the government in Be'er Sheva.
Before that, he met with Justice Minister Yariv Levin over his controversial plans to weaken the Supreme Court. He likely also met with others from the political and judicial arenas to gain a better understanding of the Levin plan, and perhaps find some common ground. But, no such meetings appear to have yielded results.
Either way, Herzog cannot be expected to stop Levin's so-called reform of the judiciary or Ben-Gvir's efforts to curb protesters. The government was elected by a majority and only public protests, not of thousands but of hundreds of thousands, would be able to reign its extremists in.
Israelis in the millions have never come out in protest. Perhaps only the real threat to our values, and the dissolution of the country as we know it, would compel them to come out of their homes.