Constantly recording conversations will lead to mistrust and a Soviet-like fear of speaking to anyone, MK Yisrael Eichler warns.
Haredi MK Yisrael Eichler (UTJ) on Tuesday slammed the trend of recording conversations and said doing so "destroys human morals and disrupts the normal order of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein (Likud), and the other ministers."
The prophet Habakkuk said, "'And stones will cry out from the walls, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it (ibid. 2:11).' We believe that 'there is an Eye that sees and an Ear that hears (Avot 2:1),' but I want to tell them what the train station in Russia looks like."
"There are millions of people, more than in New York and London put together, and they are all standing silently, walking silently, no one dares to wish another well. There's an enormous fear that someone may be recording you. Maybe someone is watching you. There's fear. The KGB is standing behind you and listening. All you can hear is the train approaching in the background, in complete contrast to the noise of the people you hear alighting from trains everywhere in the democratic world.
"The basic fear that exists in their hearts from the days of the Soviets does not disappear even decades later. It's a paralyzing fear that freezes the entire country. That's what will happen in Israel: People will be afraid to speak, because the trend of recording everything threatens the entire country's normal existence.
"A person can be sitting in his room, surrounded by friends, family, or colleagues, and his subconscious will tell him not to trust them. Why? Because that's how the people recording destroy human society. It can be the Prime Minister, it can be the Knesset speaker, a minister, or an MK. It can be professional legal or economic advisers, doctors, or family counselors.
"And those people who betray their friends are called 'democracy's watchdogs.' While they act like the hunting dogs of a dictatorship run by legal advisers and clerks, journalists spread slander about the enemies of justice and human morals."
Last week, Walla Hebrew-language website published a recording of Prime Minister Netanyahu's wife Sara screaming at a communications adviser over a newspaper article that did not mention that Sara works as a child psychologist.
The incident in the recording occurred nine years ago.
In response, PM Netanyahu issued a response, asking, "Is there a person who never gets angry and says a few words he did not mean?"
"Only in the case of my family is this made a lead news headline, and is used as a platform of attack in the ongoing effort to bring down my government through means other than elections.... The public is smart and understands very well what is really happening here."
