Welcome to the golden age of Bibism
Op-ed: Addressing the Knesset this week, Prime Minister Netanyahu presented the political world he wants to live in, a world in which criticism is a crime, free thought is sourness, and flattering the leader and his regime is a way of life.
The basic philosophies of modern politics, the famous liberalism and conservatism, were officially joined this week by Bibism.
Addressing the Knesset, and not for the first time, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explicitly expressed how he sees the political world he wants to live in, the ideology which is the most important thing during his years in power. It’s a world based on flattering the leader and his regime, a world in which criticism is a crime, free thought is sourness, and ingratiation and sycophancy are a way of life.
This world spins on the axis of the Bibist worldview, which is a sort of hybridization between battered and unconscious liberalism, proclaimed but unimplemented conservatism, blatant egoism and a lot of opportunism.
While the liberals pursue personal liberty, secularization, absolute freedom, equality, human rights and separation of powers, and while the conservatives seek to preserve the current situation and to avoid causing any confusion through revolutions, the Bibists’ main goal is to amend and adjust reality to their own needs. In other words, to the needs of their omnipotent leader.
Everything is flexible and open to changes. There are no sacred cows. Everything that can be changed, to make reality more convenient for us to handle, matters. Everything that has to be destroyed/ruined/spoiled is open for discussion. And if you resist, you’re traitors. It doesn’t matter how much it costs, as long as no one stops us from doing what we want.
President Reuven Rivlin spoke Monday about the death of stateliness. Rivlin is optimistic and slightly naïve. Stateliness did not die a natural death. It was brutally murdered years ago. Its bleeding body has been lying for several terms now on Israeli democracy’s floor, and no one cares—definitely not the fans of Bibism, who enjoy being close to the leader.
Stateliness, after all, has no room in Bibism, because it hinders. It prevents the deceptive use of racism and incitement, it forbids creating a rift for the sake of a rift, spewing hatred for the sake of political gain and spreading lies and libels against police investigators, judges and journalists.
That’s why stateliness was murdered. Because it got in the way of implementing the Bibist ideology, which refers to legal offenses as “gifts” and to other offenses as “takeaway food.”
Stateliness wouldn’t have allowed the invented buses heading nowhere in droves or the birth of leftist traitors who are bringing the Islamic State to the Western Wall. These contemptible lies, alongside other contemptible lies that pop up every two hours, would have been unacceptable in a world where there is still room for stateliness. But they flourish just fine in Bibism.
The Bibists see nothing wrong with anything they do. They’re okay, more than okay. All they want to do is “make a change,” “balance,” “fix.” They’re never trying to destroy, Heaven forbid—not the media, not the police, not the courts. They aren’t threatening anyone with personal bypass laws. No way. It’s only the president, who hardly has any official authorities, who’s intimidating. He’s the biggest threat. Because he’s setting off the village’s alarm bells.
Bibism isn’t conservatism, and it’s definitely not liberalism. There is nothing from these famous ideologies in the modus operandi of Netanyahu's inner circle. They act according to pure Bibism, a new ideology lacking any basic guidelines apart from submissiveness to the leader’s whims.
The Bibists shout that they’re rightists, but they have nothing to do with the original Israeli Right. Absolutely nothing. A real conservative Right seeks minimum governmental involvement in day-to-day life. Bibism seeks to be involved in everything, to determine everything, to tell every person what he’s allowed and isn’t allowed to say or do.
Bibism supports coercion, whether through legislation or through dictation. The president of the State of Israel, who voices his concern over the attempt to undermine all the foundations of Israeli democracy, is a threat. The rest are sourpusses. The Bibists are the only ones who are right.
Welcome to the golden age of Bibism.
