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I too disagree with Mr. Hoffman's analysis of PM Netanyahu. He is under a lot of pressure from the families of hostages who want them home at the cost of Israel's not invading Rafah; from the other political parties who already sold out Israel in the past, Bennett included (see the gas field deal with Lebanon); from Gantz who goes to Washington behind Netanyahu's back and is the Trojan Horse for the despicable Blinken; and from Biden himself, not to mention Israel's other "allies". In the face of all this Netanyahu steadfastly maintains that Israel must win the war and this in the face of outrageous American treachery re withholding arms. So Jews everywhere should support his call to go into Rafah and complete the war, even encourage him to go address the American Congress; and wait to see what happens afterward once Israel is victorious and elections are called. My guess is that Netanyahu will retire. In the meantime every major American Jewish organization should ratchet up the pressure on the Biden White House. Why are they so silent? And why are Israelis so silent, letting the leftists in the country demonstrate with impunity?

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I agree that Israel should go into Rafah, and I agree with the rest of your points. But that does not mean that my analysis of Bibi, which was taken from Prime Minister Office quotes, is not inaccurate. Whataboutism is not a counter-argument.

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Most of your quotes are from pundits who have their own take on Netanyahu. But Israeli media are fiercely anti-Netanyahu as American media are fiercely anti-Trump. Every time I visited Israel I was shocked to see the anti-Bibi animus of deranged media types. That said, Bibi is ahead of the Israeli public on the war in Gaza according to some polls which indicate Israelis would be willing to digest their losses of 500 plus soldiers to get the hostages back. One ought not to forget that Bibi's policy has been for a decade now focused on Iran as the principal enemy. I have always argued the need to assert Israeli sovereignty over Gaza, Judea and Samaria by taking out the Palestinians there. That would be the best way of dealing with Iran. Bibi's option was part of the wider Israeli public's assessment that they could live with the threat of constant attacks and murders because it was the price to pay for living the good life in Tel Aviv rather than Brooklyn. That was a mistake shared not only by the political, defense and security establishment, but by the entire Israeli and Jewish public world-wide.. So before blaming Bibi , how about a little Jewish introspection? And how about stepping up to the plate now? Scapegoating Bibi hides this dirty little fact, as I pointed out months ago in my piece about the Jewish death wish that never died.

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1) The article I sourced the quotes from (in the footnotes) is full of Prime Minister Office quotes.

2) I agree with all of your points, and I am not scapegoating Bibi. I am saying he is doing everything for himself and misleading the public to think it is in Israel’s best interests. But this is who Bibi has been recently. Nothing new here. And not unlike many other politicians. I always tell people to levy the same criticisms for Bibi against all relevant politicians, not just against Netanyahu.

Bibi does not have impunity just because all of Israel’s other mainstream politicians also suck.

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I agree wholeheartedly with you, Stephen.

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The great political maxim is again reinforced. All politics is local.

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May 9Liked by Joshua Hoffman

Gantz presided over the over reliance by tge IDF on high tech and its downsizing which led to the near disaster on 10/7 and Lapid will be the lapdog to Biden Bibi has done shst is necessary and has the kishkes to stand up to the left and knows what it is like to be under fire

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Agreed about Gantz and Lapid. I am not a fan of theirs, either. But Bibi has overstayed his welcome. I would be keen on Naftali Bennett returning.

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Bibi is miles apart from the cold-blooded, morally depraved creature that joe biden is. Biden does not care how many Americans or Israelis die as the result of the policies he implements to please the most evil, radical, Jew-hating wing of the democrat party and his donors. I see Bibi as the Winston Churchill of our time. He's standing up to the world to defend his nation and people. There's no comparison between the two.

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The point of this essay was not to compare Biden and Bibi, but to show that they are both self-interested, disingenuous politicians who mislead the public into thinking otherwise.

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You’re giving dumpster fires a bad name.

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Hahaha good one!

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May 9Liked by Joshua Hoffman

A lot to take in but one thing is for sure, each one is vying for their place in Israeli leadership. It made me think of a great quote but I couldn't remember who said it, so I checked. “Politics, where the ideals of society meet the realities of power.” Aloo Denish Obiero People, it seems, always come last. It will be very interesting to see how it all plays out.

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Love that quote.

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Every time a Leftist gets in office in the US, this is what happens.

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Totally disagree about Bibi. I love that man.

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I used to respect him too, until I woke up to the fact that he cares about no none but himself.

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That doesn't seem true to me. Guess I'll agree to disagree on this one.

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"Had Israel taken care of Hamas in Gaza by now, which the IDF certainly has the ability and competence to do," but what IS the IDF doing in Gaza if not terminating Hamas?

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author

That's a good question. They are harming Hamas, but not defeating them.

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Then the costs in human lives - 260 or so Israeli soldiers , an unknown number of Palestinian civilians, a destroyed infrastructure, an enormous PR damage, only few rescued hostages - do not outweigh the damage done to Hamas, right? And Nethanyahu still remains PM ?

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If he can convince the Israeli electorate that he’s the “best man” for the job then yes. Although more than 100 rescued hostages is more than “only few.” Some would argue they should have never been taken hostage to begin with.

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Termination is what they’re trying to do. They’ve been upfront about that. And if Biden’s dumbass holds up ammunition, we should start a collection to back Israel.

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" terminating hamas is and was IMPOSSIBLE! degrade them is doable but untill the gaza area 2,2 million radicals on your western border is drastically changed with a humanitarian seperation there is is no real military victory!the issue started in naive military strategy in how the pm pr office branded the conflict, This was never the israel-hamas war! it was the israel-Gaza war, as soon as you unleashed bombs on non hamas folks you were "a civilian killer"! Gazans hatched hamas and its composed of all their cousins! its one big mushpacha! israeli strategic group think ( not just western liberals)and their pure clan arrogance and lack of imagination is the cause of both oct 7 AND the impasse / "no plan"of today!

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stephen brizel and laura : both of you are on the track of logic ,they just arent united. mr j hoffman likes being a pundit not a movement leader, a shame! !The usa jewish orgs lack ceos with vision and measureable metrics and accountability. so that leaves progress to jewish org lay management with needs the Management Excellence Council: a conservative judge of best practices, most choices are easy if you rever the teachings of peter drucker vs schlomo upstein

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Bennett sold out to the left

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Maybe, but that can always be rectified. If we held every politician to their worst decisions and didn't allow some wiggle room for them to course correct, every politician would be absolutely rotten.

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