How has the transformation of Benjamin Netanyahu into Israel’s national scapegoat become so pervasive, so without question, that it might even seem true to everyone in Israel and many outside too? Is the Israeli public so gullible as to actually believe the mainstream media that portrays the war against Hamas in such a way as to demoralize and depress the public, and also create an atmosphere of culpability and blame? Netanyahu has become a symbol of all that is wrong in Israel and all that is wrong with the war against Hamas.
Should you review the Israeli newspapers, whether in Hebrew or in English, and as you watch mainstream TV stations, you cannot escape the conclusion that this entire mess is the fault of Israel’s democratically-elected Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Forget about blaming Yahya Sinwar, the barbaric, psychopathic leader of Hamas. No matter what channel, the message is identical: Netanyahu is prolonging the war against Hamas for his own political gain. Netanyahu is sidelining the generals: Benny Gantz, Yoav Gallant, and Gadi Eisenkot, despite them being an integral part of his own war cabinet. More charges: Netanyahu will ruin our relations with the Biden Administration and the rest of the European Union governments, Netanyahu puts his own political career over Israel’s security. The list goes on and on and has nothing to do with reality or even slightly related to the high marks the Israeli public has given the government in handling the war with Hamas in the South, and Hezbollah in the north.
Only this past week, a letter signed by senior commanders of Israel’s military and intelligence leadership over the past decades has been circulating demanding the “immediate removal of Benjamin Netanyahu from the leadership of the State of Israel.” The contents of the letter are nothing new, and rehash demands of the same signatories from the past year during the anti-judicial reform demonstrations, now updated as a result of the Oct. 7 massacre. In their letter, they claim that Netanyahu represents an existential and ongoing threat to the State of Israel and all her people. These retired military and intelligence leaders who were personally responsible for developing Israel’s military, intelligence, and strategic apparatus and policies over the recent decades don’t even bother to mention the direct role of Iran and her proxies of Hezbollah and Hamas that lead up to the Oct. 7 massacre. As far as they are concerned, Netanyahu is solely responsible, and they have doubled down on that charge by refusing to be held accountable for decades of devastating military policies that have brought Israel to its current state of war.
Moshe Ya’alon, Dan Halutz, Tamir Pardo, Nadav Argaman, Danny Yatom, and Assaf Hefetz are just a few of the dozens of former military and intelligence commanders that signed the letter. What they failed to mention alongside the role of Iran and her proxies is the simple fact that during the last thirty years, they were at the helm of Israel’s leading security agencies, a time when Israel adopted one catastrophic strategy after another: the signing of the Oslo agreement, the Camp David Accords, the unilateral withdrawal from Southern Lebanon, the Second Intifada, the Second Lebanese War, and the enabling of the Hamas terrorist organization to build an underground infrastructure that is currently being destroyed by the IDF under orders from the Netanyahu government.
The list goes on and on; however, they solely blame Netanyahu for everything and take responsibility for nothing.
In their race to advance the agenda that Israel is losing the war with Hamas, the Israeli mainstream media is helping these former military and intelligence leaders in their attempt to cancel the result of Israel’s elections and the will of the Israeli people. They claim that the war is unwinnable, and the IDF is demanding to do the impossible. Rather than emulating Israel’s heroes on the front lines, with thousands of examples of unheralded bravery, sacrifice, and the admirable stoicism of the families of the fallen soldiers, the media is falling all over each other claiming the reserve soldiers are torn between serving their country and their families.
The high level of motivation expressed by hundreds of thousands of soldiers on the front lines who claim that Israel must finish the job and destroy Hamas and its terroristic infrastructure are repeatedly ignored or dismissed as a minority sentiment.
The mainstream media has gone one step further. They claim that the economy is on the verge of a downturn and will soon collapse. All this despite evidence to the contrary, that Israel is experiencing a wartime boom in the economy: jam packed restaurants every night in Tel Aviv, rush hour traffic, a new high in the stock market, and a strengthening of the shekel against the dollar. Not to mention the unparalleled profits of the banking, insurance, and industrial sectors of the economy, all the while blaming Netanyahu.
The motivation behind the scapegoating of Netanyahu has less to do with the war on Hamas and more to do with the October 7 massacre and its aftermath. As a result of the war, a number of political trends are emerging. The first has to do with the demise of the two-state solution and the political ramifications of this on the Progressive-Leftist political parties in the Knesset, which have built their political reputations on the idea. A second is that the Israeli public has shifted to the right politically, and the Left Wing will have a diminishing representation in future elections. A third trend has to do with the public’s expectation of the establishment of a national commission of inquiry on the October 7 massacre. The generals and senior commanders who signed the letter demanding Netanyahu’s immediate resignation are directly responsible for the policies and decisions that led to the massacre. By demanding Netanyahu’s resignation, they hope to control the conclusions of any such investigation.
In a recent press conference, Netanyahu touched on the idea that the progressive left and their cohorts in the mainstream media have nothing positive or worthwhile to say about Israel’s leader and his government. Netanyahu’s brilliant response sums it up: “I’ll keep fighting Hamas, and you’ll keep fighting me. That’s the division of labor.”
Ron Jager grew up in the South Bronx of New York and made aliyah in 1980. Ron is a 25-year veteran of the Israel Defense Forces, where he served as a field mental-health officer and as commander of the central psychiatric military clinic for reserve soldiers at Tel-Hashomer. Since retiring from active duty, he has been providing consultancy services to NGOs, implementing psychological trauma and psychological education programs to communities in the North and South of Israel. Ron served as a strategic adviser to the chief foreign envoy of Judea and Samaria. You can reach him at medconf@gmail.com. Read more of Ron Jager’s articles at 5TJT.com.
B”H There’s no gain but only sustained pain in my friend’s latest diatribe; an shameful apologia for a miserably failing Israeli premier who began a first tenure with great expectation a dozen years ago —- only to witness his self-made dénouement and political destruction. Daily, it becomes clear that keeping Netanyahu in Israel’s government protracts the unbearable tragedy that erupted on Shabbat Simhat Torah, October 7, but was boiling for more than a year as he attempted to undermine judicial review, and the nation’s democracy. More, in Bibi’s attempt to cling to power under all means and to avoid ignominious conviction on corruption and abuse of office, he saddled his cabinet with the worst representation in racist candidates, unable and unwilling to countenance a semblance of coexistence with Arabs. In the event, our Jewish Homeland, for we, lovers of Zion living in the diaspora have a voice and are willing to cry when the government errs, we witness increased criticism and isolation of Israel in world fora; most egregiously in the Bibi’s impetuosity and impertinence in relation with our America and our decent President Joe Biden. Still, and reflective of unstinting American support for Israel —- every President since Truman tried to outdo his predecessor in championing Israel and Jews —- strategic cooperation is constant and dramatically on display with our armada in the eastern Mediterranean! So it shall be, always. Amen. With fraternal affection, Asher 🙏❤️😀🇺🇸🇮🇱🔯🕍