The two buildings in the West Bank settlement of Beit El that were the focus of Tuesday’s disturbances by settlers were built on privately owned Palestinian land. A demolition order for the structures was issued as far back as 2010. After excessively prolonged deliberations, the High Court of Justice ruled that they must be razed by the end of July. In a country ruled by law, it’s clear what would have happened next: The buildings would have been demolished, with the backing of the prime minister and his senior ministers.

But when the prime minister, the defense minister, the education minister and the justice minister are all in effect working against the highest court in the land, it sends the clear message that Israel is not ruled by law, certainly not when it comes to what happens beyond the Green Line. The incident in Beit El, as well as the one on the site of the former settlement of Sa-Nur yesterday, were testament to a new kind of separation of powers: The Knesset, that is the legislative branch, selects an executive branch – the cabinet — that stands in opposition to the law that the third branch, the judiciary, is authorized to interpret and to command its enforcement.

The outburst by Habayit Hayehudi chairman Naftali Bennett (“The defense minister has been dragged into the extremism and the agitation”) can be understood as part of his effort to demonstrate his loyalty to his settler constituents. But Bennett is also the education minister, and it is odd for the person responsible for inculcating democratic values in the younger generation to be openly undermining the law and the court. Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, in asking the court, on behalf of the state, to “prevent the destruction,” also makes a mockery of her title, emptying it of all content.

But make no mistake: Despite the plethora of condemnations hurled at Moshe Ya’alon from the right side of the political map, the defense minister is the one who has been working for weeks to try to legalize the buildings and get the court to reverse its ruling. In addition to the hasty permit issued for the buildings last Wednesday by the Civil Administration in the West Bank, which is under his authority, Ya’alon understood that an evacuation would merely increase the chances that the court would accept the contractor’s petition to annul the demolition order.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as usual in such situations, is trying to walk a tightrope by repeating his well-known refrain, meant to curry favor with the settlers and their supporters (“We’re working to strengthen the settlements”) without completely shattering the statesmanlike guise he likes to don (“and we’re doing so while obeying the law”). But all of the government’s activities over the Green Line, and certainly its embrace of the settlers, constitute an abandonment of its supreme obligation to uphold the law and enforce its authority.

It must be hoped that the High Court will once again make clear to the state that these buildings must be destroyed, and in addition, that the executive branch will implement the court’s ruling. At a time like this, one would also expect the attorney general to make his voice heard loud and clear, position himself on the side of the law and take action against the ministers who are working against the court’s ruling.