At first reading, the recent timing of an Arutz Sheva article denigrating Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu’s leadership by Rabbi Joseph Isaac Gutnick, the Australian philanthropic businessman known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s Shliach (delegate) for tthe Integrity of the Land of Israel, seemed be connected to haredi furor at the draft law delay. Could it be an attempt to justify the haredi parties’ egotistic withdrawal from the coalition as if nothing matters except their desire to perpetuate haredi draft exemptions, this while Israel is bombing in Syria, Iran is trying to rearm the Houthis and Jewish boys are endangering their lives in Gaza, including the very same Religious Zionists MK Gafni villified so endearingly this week?
Since Chabad, in my experience, would never act that way (Full disclosure: I frequented fabrengen and spent Simchat Torah at 770 Eastern Parkway for several years and even merited a bracha from the Rebbe), it seems more reasonable that the well-known Lubavitch figure, who has made large and meaningful donations benefitting Yehuda and Shomron, fears Netanyahu will give in to Hamas’ conditions or Witkoff’s naïve suggestions for a ceasefire. And doing that would mean his giving up hard-won territory in the Gaza Strip, as conflicting media reports and some hostage families keep trying to encourage him to do.
The article is most likely an attempt to affect elections which Rabbi Gutnick, who has many good deeds in his personal history including a hall for low-cost weddings several minutes from my home, imagines are much closer than they seemed a week ago. If that happens, we will have a topsy-turvy example of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai’s saying in the Talmud (about those who learn Torah) that if someone has merits, his work is done by others. In this case, turning that saying on its head, the leftist Kaplan demonstrators who have tried to take down the government since the raucous judicial reform protests, will have had their goal realized by the haredi parties they abhor. Such is the world of politics, and as Mark Levin said in his recent interview of Netanyahu, Israeli politics is as tough as it gets.
This response to Rabbi Gutnick is not an endorsement for Netanyahu’s re-election, nor am I an uncritical supporter of the Prime Minister. However, not a few have said that it is a good idea for him to leave politics while on a high, resting on his laurels - and laurels there are aplenty, even if interlaced with the thorns Rabbi Gutnick emphasizes. If Netanyahu does retire before the next elections, he will be remembered mainly for the courage displayed in deciding to attack Iran, to take out Nasrallah, activate the pagers and show Hamas terrorists and their willing Gazan supporters that the IDF is the tool of a G-d of Israel who is also a G-d of Revenge.
If he opts for reelection, chances are high that he will gain more seats than ever before, recent Bennett-Eisenkot supposed poll results notwithstanding, and that the haredim will find that no one wants them in a coalition without a reasonable change in the army service situation. However, it will be downhill from there for him, no matter how many peace deals he manages to achieve, because nothing can match his courageous accomplishments during the Swords of Iron war. Let us leave that decision to him. We really don’t know what lies ahead in that sphere or any other in the volatile Middle East.
That said, let us examine the points Rabbi Gutnick makes in his article. His stated reason for a switch to the anti-Netanyahu camp is fear that the prime minister is too weak to keep the territories under Israeli rule intact and that he may even endorse a Palestinian Arab state. His basis for these fears are the wrong decisions the prime minister made in the distant past, the last of them 14 years ago when public and media pressure caused Netanyahu to agree to the egregious precedent-setting Shalit deal, the first of them his vote for the terrible Gush Katif expulsion (which would have happened anyway because Ariel Sharon was determined to do it). Both actions showed a disappointing lack of courage, but not a belief in those misguided policies, and no one can say that this early lack of backbone characterizes Netanyahu today.
Then, as Rabbi Gutnick writes, came October 7, his next statements displaying a tendency to view the resulting issues as black or white. Except that when it comes to historical events and the running of a beleaguered country like Israel, the issues are never quite so easy to categorize. Yes, one can say, as Gutnick does, that because Netanyahu was at the head when the Hamas massacre occurred, the buck stops at his desk, and he should have resigned immediately. That is a valid, automatic expectation from leaders whose countries suffer catastrophes during their term of office. On the other hand, that expectation is based on the leader’s ability to have prevented said debacle.
If we analyze what happened, admitting the foolishness of the widely held “conceptzia,” shared by Netanyahu, that economic benefits would prevent Hamas from attacking (along with believing Qatar’s commitment to that prevention in exchange for Israel’s passing on its financial aid to Gaza), it is not so straightforward. The egregious western-style “conceptzia” is not at fault on October 7 itself- the upper echelons in the army and intelligence services bear that responsibility, because in a country surrounded by enemies, they are in charge of making sure we are prepared to react in the event that any “conceptzia” whatsoever turns out to be false.
There are two branches at every step on a flow chart, and a flow chart on security preparedness is no exception. There is one (positive) branch for when everything goes the way the higher ups hope it does, and a second (negative) branch for when that hope is dashed. The government and the citizens of this country relied on the defense establishment, which creates that flow chart, to be aware of both possibilities - at every moment. But they were not. It seems there was no negative branch at all.
Everyone in Israel was happy to believe that we could continue to “mow the grass” and avoid all-out war resulting in a high number of casualties, but none of us mere mortals thought that the belief was foolproof. It seems the elite defense establishment did.
Rabbi Gutnick criticizes the loss of life in the current Gaza war as if it is the prime minister’s fault, not remembering that in just one previous Gaza operation of a few days, when there were no hostages, over 100 IDF soldiers fell (and remember the 2600 IDF soldiers who fell in the 18 day Yom Kippur War and the 700 in the Six Day War, rachmana litzlan?). Casualty-free airstrikes are not enough when fighting an underground Amalek, especially when the hypocritical Biden government holds back on bunker buster bombs. But fight we must, mourn our fallen and continue.
No one imagined the defense establishment’s closing its eyes to facts on the ground. Looking facts straight in the eye is what they are there for. No one, including Netanyahu, knew they were denying firsthand reports, ignoring what they were told by observers, no one authorized Ronen Bar’s not telling Bibi or even calling him when suspicions became reality, no one allowed the head of intelligence whose job it is to stay on call so we can sleep at night, to shut his cell phone while on vacation.
The October 7th attack could have been repulsed, “conceptzia” or no “conceptzia”. Easily. The lack of preparedness is not Netanyahu’s fault, even though he can be blamed automatically because he is at the top, a risk that comes with the job, as the Left plastered all over the country. Netanyahu was clearly not at fault on October 7th itself because he was not informed in time (we will leave the official investigation to decide why), but once he was, he swung into immediate action.
Nor is the Sophie’s choice in this war (read Alan Kessel in the Spectator), between trying to save the remaining living hostages vs. the total unphased destruction of Gaza, a simple one. It is frustrating and infuriating to see terrorists freed, and perhaps the government should have written off the hostages as another price of the war from the beginning, but I, who would prefer we didn’t negotiate with Hamas at all, and Rabbi Gutnick, who writes that compassion must be tempered by responsibility, do not have to face their parents. Israelis do not have a “stiff upper lip” for hostages undergoing torture and abuse and in this case, there is also the IDF brass’ well-deserved guilt feelings for its having happened at all.
And once it was decided to reach a deal to save hostage lives, there was not much leeway in negotiating with the Satan in whose hands those lives were.
Rabbi Gutnick allows himself one laconic paragraph about Netanyahu’s accomplishments (omitting his economic success, the Abraham Accords and much else), and also downplaying the Iran war (a miracle akin in my mind to G-d’s splitting of the Red Sea) by saying correctly, if grudgingly, that the prime minister has made “key moves with world leaders that strengthened Israel’s security, the targeted eliminations of terrorist leaders, and the operation in Iran, for which we were blessed with great Heavenly assistance. Unfortunately, the regime in Tehran remains in power, continues to fund terror, and openly calls for Israel’s destruction,” he complains.
However, we had no intention of changing Iran’s regime on our own, that is way beyond Israel’s scope, and we had no hopes of reeducating Iran. Our goal, one we achieved, was ending Iran’s ability to launch ballistic missiles and wage nuclear war. Like other enemies who rise up against us in every generation, that war will have to be repeated one day, unless the 90 million people of Iran rise up to change the situation.
I don’t pretend to have the solution for Gaza other than transplanting its residents to other countries, but I regret to say that neither do any of the self-confident hopefuls who want to be our next prime minister. It’s easy to criticize Netanyahu when you don’t have to make decisions with Trump breathing down your neck to reach an agreement, well-meaning as the US president is.
Rabbi Gutnick writes: “And now once again, there’s renewed talk of a ‘Palestinian civil autonomy’ — a fictitious political entity in the heart of Biblical Israel. This is a dangerous illusion.” Actually, I hear media hype about that, but I also hear talk about clans taking over rather than a centralized regime, so when the Prime Minister said: “The Palestinian Arabs should have all the powers to govern themselves, but none of the powers to threaten us. That means full security control will always remain in our hands,” that does not mean a Palestinian state. Far from it.
Rabbi Gutnick is on the mark when he says: “Israel stands at a crossroads. The world is watching. Our enemies are watching. But more than anyone, our people are watching — searching for clarity, strength, and truth.” I doubt that any leader will provide more of those than we see at present.
I could not tell if when he wrote “We need leadership grounded not in survival — but in principle,” and “we need courage not calculations,” he is joining those saying the war is being stretched out to keep Bibi in power. If so, I suggest reading Jonathan Tobin’s view of that canard.
Frankly, I think we need both courage and calculations. Netanyahu has provided strong leadership throughout this war, even if it means not always being transparent or fulfilling my hopes. Two years ago, Commentary magazine wrote an editorial about him in which they said:
“There is one trait that may be the most essential to his continued survival, and hence the most infuriating to his enemies. Netanyahu’s military special-forces training taught him to leave all options open at all times. This meant sometimes being unwilling to decide or commit to a decision… it means that Netanyahu dislikes being cornered and will wait until the last possible moment to decide on a course of action.
"Netanyahu has been on the world stage for an impossibly long time for an elected leader in the modern world. He comes under constant criticism for having overstayed his welcome and fends off frequent calls from domestic and international critics to step aside. Although there are certainly arguments to be made against him, it’s also important to recall that the strongest leaders in democracies cultivate discipline, preparation, patience, and experience. Netanyahu has all of these qualities in abundance, and they help explain his long tenure at the top.”
If Netanyahu does decide to refrain from running in the coming elections, I hope it will be for the right reasons and not as a result of the unending and often one-sided criticism with which he has been unceasingly bombarded.