During the height of the war in the Gaza Strip that followed the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and while Israeli hostages were still being tortured in Gaza tunnels, the Israeli government decided to give aid to Gaza. Everyone knew that it would end up in the hands of the very same terrorists who committed the massacre of 1,200 people and the kidnapping of 251 others.
Thousands of trucks bearing provisions were dispatched. Nut Reut Ben-Haim of Netivot, a nursery-school teacher and mother of eight children, couldn’t take it anymore.
Netivot was one of Hamas’s targets on Oct. 7, but its security forces managed to stop the terrorists from infiltrating the town. Ben-Haim could not justify providing aid to a murderous enemy while hostages were denied even Red Cross visits. She created a civil group called Tsav 9, and they tried to block the road to Gaza to prevent the supply trucks from entering the Strip.
Blocking roads has been a tactic in other protests. For example, the protests against reforms to Israel’s Supreme Court.
The Israeli government lacks checks and balances on the judiciary. Initially, the Supreme Court exercised self-restraint, but since the late 1980s, the court has consistently influenced politics by overturning laws via a process called the “judicial revolution.” During the 2022 elections, the eventually victorious parties promised to introduce the missing checks and balances. This move was unacceptable to a powerful leftist minority that, having lost the elections, relied on the judiciary to impose their progressive views.
So, the left began massive demonstrations in 2023. They started their protest on Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv, earning the group the sobriquet “Kaplanists.” The protests spanned many days and brought the entire country to a standstill for hours at a time, taking a major economic and civic toll.
Today, Reut Ben-Haim is facing criminal trial, though the Kaplanists who blocked roads in Israel and shut down the country have not been brought to justice. Both cases involved protests against government policy. Both crossed into illegality by blocking roads, but the judicial system treats them differently.
Gali Baharav-Miara, Israel’s attorney general, said at a cabinet meeting in July 2023 that “there is no effective protest without disturbing public order,” thus absolving the Kaplanists. On the other hand, a criminal indictment was brought against Reut Ben-Haim in July 2026 that explicitly stated that she “created a riot without a reasonable reason.”
The judicial system has ruled in advance that the law is more important than the people.
Right-wing media have been quick to claim that there is selective enforcement at work: The judicial system supports the left and persecutes the right. Consequently, it prosecutes Tsav 9 and turns a blind eye to the Kaplan riots.
This is probably true, but pedantic jurists have explained to me that there is a fundamental legal difference between the cases. According to them, the difference does not lie in the reason for the protest, nor in who suffers because of the protest. Rather, the issue is that Reut Ben-Haim tried to thwart a legal government decision, while the Kaplanists did not do so.
At first glance, this seems like talmudic pilpul, but when one delves into it, it turns out that it is the root of the dispute in Israeli society today.
Most Israelis believe in a democratic society in which the rule of the people is paramount. This means creating a society that prioritizes peace, tranquility and happiness for its citizens. The law serves as a key tool in achieving this. It is intended to serve the people.
However, some Israelis, particularly those on the progressive side of the political divide, believe that the law should be above all else, and that the people must serve it. Consequently, the harm caused to millions of Israelis by the Kaplanists is considered less severe than the harm inflicted on terrorists by Ben-Haim, because she directly opposed a government decision.
Through the legislature, the Israeli people have decided the boundaries of legal protest. Both the Kaplanists and Tsav 9 crossed those boundaries. However, the judicial system has determined that the Kaplanists’ protest, while painful, was legitimate because the protesters were right, and, thus, it does not matter if the people suffered as a result.
On the other hand, Ben-Haim is facing criminal prosecution because she didn’t hurt the public but fought directly against the government. This means the judicial system has ruled in advance that the law is more important than the people.
If dozens of Kaplanists were sitting in prison, I would be silent in the face of the prosecution of Reut Ben-Haim. Prosecuting both would send a message that public order must not be violated.
However, when the judicial system deems a protest that endangered the lives of individuals as reasonable yet deemed a protest that undermined the rule of law as unreasonable, it has effectively established that the system of government in Israel prioritizes the rule of law over the rule of the people.
