“There is no such thing as a head of state who has never entertained the fantasy of being free to act “without the High Court and without B’Tselem,” to quote Yitzhak Rabin. It’s the yearning for one-person rule, free from checks and from public or judicial oversight, all justified on the grounds of protecting a “public good” that the public itself fails to grasp. After all, Leader knows best. It seems now that Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, after being hailed as the hero of Operation Pillar of Defense for his role in effecting a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, has been gripped by over-ambition. He forgot what his supporters reminded Israel, that “post-revolution Egypt is not Mubarak’s Egypt.”

Soon after Morsi issued the constitutional declaration giving himself total legislative authority and exemption from judicial oversight, on Thursday, Egyptian Internet sites were buzzing with condemnation for the measures. The leaders of protest movements and secular parties termed the the decree a firman, alluding to the immutable rulings of the Ottoman sultans. Egyptians whose children were killed by security forces in last year’s protests denounced even the decision to retry the perpetrators. By Thursday evening calls to demonstrate in Cairo’s Tahrir Square were circulating on Facebook and Twitter accounts; some activists called for a sit-in at the square until the decisions were reversed, while others demanded that Morsi be impeached. Thousands of Morsi supporters used social networking applications to defend the declaration as the direct continuation of the revolution, whose purpose is to protect its gains. They too called for rallies, to show support for the president and his decrees.”

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