activists who are receiving a clear message from the authorities: your activism is on our radar; be warned. In an appeal to the Attorney General, ACRI's Attorney Lila Margalit restated what apparently needs urgent refreshing: that in a democracy an individual is not summoned by the security authorities to discuss demonstrations in which he participated, and is not required to report on his political views or to justify them with the State's secret agents. These grave attempts at limiting political expression seriously endanger Israel's democratic attributes. China is not alone. In Russia, another democratic superpower, the Lower House recently approved a bill allowing the country's intelligence service to "officially warn citizens that their activities could lead to a future violation of the law" ( The New York Times , July 16). Human rights activists in Russia view this law as a comeback of the bad-old-days of KGB anti-dissidents practices. Israel is not China nor Russia. In order to ensure that it does not end up resembling them, the time has come for the Israeli public to summon the Shin Bet for a conversation over a cup of tea. It is not the activists, abiding by the law, who are in need of such a conversation -- but rather the Security Service who violates it. These GSS violations of democratic norms are not caused by naivety. Unlike the Shin Bet 's secretive threat talks, this conversation -- of the proper norms in a democracy -- should be conducted openly and in