Hating Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition has become a global sport — and let’s stop pretending that it’s actually about policy. It’s about the world’s oldest double standard.
I agree! Whatever you think of Netanyahu, he is brilliant. Stupid leaders love to hate him,the plight of the hostages is shocking. I do suspect that at this stage, a 60 day ceasefire would be catastrophic. I just don’t think that some of these poor souls will last that long. Hamas must release all of them now. They can’t be allowed to play these cruel games.
Great essay. Thanks. For anyone wanting to test the depth of a Bibi critic, you can always ask them: what SHOULD he be doing in Gaza?
Here is a dialogue I saw in what had been a very busy and argumentative comment thread following a Sam Harris substack.
:
: <Lots of argument, no suggestions from the critics... just accusations>
:
Person A: "What should Israel be doing?"
(a week passes)
Person B: "Funny how that question always clears the chatroom."
Person C: "They should have submitted a plan to the international courts and then followed it. Hope that helps."
Person B: "A plan to do what?"
Person C: "These plans are typically very thick and assessed by the powers that check them, and I don't believe the onus is on me to get more specific so that you can attempt to trip me. I find this exactly the right level of specificity. If you don't, OK."
"They should have submitted a plan to the international courts" !!
Yes, Israel's sovereignty and survival should be placed in the hands of foreign bureaucrats, many of them hostile to Israel and to Jews. Imagine anyone suggesting this of any other country!
People will twist their brains into knots to justify their lame opinions, mostly because they've never thought them through but acquired them via social contagion.
If you gave most Western liberals truth serum then asked them "What should Israel be doing?" most would say they should surrender immediately and agree to live under permanent siege as this conflict is not much different from a Marvel movie to them and they want to exit the theater smiling at a happy ending.
Western liberals are trapped between obvious reality, their supposed values (tolerance, pluralism, civil and human rights) that they wield in every situation but this one, and the status of Palestinians as sacred victims—thus they can only sputter nonsense and achieve nothing but obvious cognitive dissonance.
It’s incredible, isn’t it? You are absolutely correct. FYI the Person C dialogue is 100% strictly verbatim—perfect poetry of ignorance, self-satirizing to a degree even the South Park creators would envy; puerile drivel distilled to molecular perfection.
People say the stupidest things when they are wedded to a certain conclusion or position and have to justify it by reasoning backwards. Opinions now are like bumper stickers or pins on a jacket, much more meant to signify allegiance to a group identity or a moral pose than grounded in any factual or logical basis.
The hivemind of the internet has swallowed most brains, especially the younger ones.
The essay highlights yet another parallel between Trump and Netanyahu; both have citizens of their own countries and world-wide haters that are irrational and illogical and extreme. Trump was widely pilloried around the world during his first term; now, however, most of Europe's leaders are too afraid of Trump. After all, he was right about NATO (and immigration and crime and economics and much more) and now we find Europe dealing with Putin on their doorstep (a situation that happened under Biden's watch). Damn right they are treating Trump sooooo well now: They are terrified. Oh, how nicely and quickly Europe agreed to that 5% NATO contribution (when they vilified Trump in his first term for telling them they had to meet their commitments that were HALF that amount). Too bad Israel doesn't have that clout (yet) and thank GOD Trump is on Israel's side (thanks to Bibi's ability to clearly outline Iran's nuclear threat, as well as the New Middle East plans, and get Trump on board. How many world leaders could do THAT?)
Thank you, Joshua. As a non-Jewish American who reads both US and Israeli newspapers, navigating the politics of Israel is challenging. I understand why people criticize Netanyahu. He has certainly made some mistakes, not the least of which was acquiescing to Qatar’s funding of Hamas under the assumption this would reduce their desire to attack Israel (assuming this is even true - just what I have read). But everything else I read impresses me. He has a clear mission for Israel and his deft balancing of crazy Israeli politics is as good as it gets. When I look at the alternatives to Netanyahu who wait in the wings I am apprehensive of them. I fear that Israel will miss Netanyahu when he is gone. I hope that day is long coming.
Just so. There is lots to criticize about Netanyahu but I refuse to make common cause with the Israeli left or the Western enemies of Israel who use him as an excuse for their hate.
I do not think there is any country or people or government or leadership in the world who are more pervasively and unrelentingly falsely slandered and demonized. It is an empty headed and demented double standard. I agree with your criticism of the mostly leftist Israelis who appear to be prioritizing the hostages over everything else, and the reasonableness of some aspects of the two leading right wing politicians policy concerns. I think it is universally wrong to bring religious beliefs into decision making because religions are all false, but it does not follow that the leftists secularists are better at understanding the overall dynamics relevant to moving forward. I also agree with your comments that in a coalition government the leader is constrained to operate within the contours of what is politically feasible and any sensible evaluation of Netanyahu must take that into account. I basically share your perspective.
You write: "commentators continue to paint Netanyahu as either paralyzed or reckless, particularly in the context of the ongoing war in Gaza."
All these commentators get their information from the woke, Leftist regressive Israeli media who detest Netanyahu and throw at him some of the worst accusations and libels that anyone can imagine. Anyway, I never voted for the guy but I can vouch that he is a virtuous in politics
the people hating Netanyahu are also the trump deranged. I was around for LBJ, Nixon, Reagan, ....I've never seen even for Nixon the amount of hate demonstrated against two men elected by a democratic electoral process. If we get the hyeana mamdani, it wlll be legal too. as you write, no such opprobrium ever against a host of miscreants including those of Venezeula and NIcaragua and Cuba.....who are instead lionized by the left as progressives. what a sick effing world.
👏👏👏 An outstanding essay, Joshua! All of this is 100% true! I despise Benjamin Netanyahu and his ultra-conservative government but at the same time, there can be no doubt that Bibi has been a good wartime leader for Israel and accomplished some great things on behalf of his country. I will give credit where credit is due. The context that Joshua brings up here needs to be taken into account. The things he has achieved during his political career have been nothing short of remarkable. It’s also antisemitic and unproductive to focus only on Bibi while ignoring world leaders who are actually habitual human rights abusers like Vladimir Putin, Xi Jianping, the Ayatollahs of Iran, Kim Jong-Un, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Crown Prince Bin Salman, and Rodrigo Duerte. Don’t you think you should be more worried about the likes of them?
Also, one can’t blame Netanyahu, Smotrich and Ben-Gvir from turning down peace proposals that are bad for Israel’s national security. Whatever one may think of those three gentleman, they are the democratically elected government of Israel. Returning to the ceasefire proposals, it was Hamas who s******d around and wouldn’t negotiate in good faith. Joshua also is right that if we are going to go after Bibi and the governing coalition, equally scrutiny must be applied to the Israeli left for politicizing the plight of the hostages in Gaza.
To be clear, I don’t like the Israeli government. I think Netanyahu is a failed leader in every way. I consider the current governing coalition in Israel to be the worst in its history. They have no respect for Israel’s democratic institutions and are racist, Islamophobic, authoritarian, and just as staunchly opposed to peace between Israelis and Palestinians as Fatah and Hamas are. I consider Bibi’s government a quasi-dictatorship. I consider Smotrich and Ben-Gvir to be human garbage. I don’t like these people at all and want them out of power after the war is over. But Joshua makes some excellent points here and I world agree that Netanyahu needs to be treated fairly and objectively and the obsession with him while ignoring the atrocious actions of other world leaders is just absurd.
These are the same seasoned military leaders who supported the disengagement. The same military leaders who claimed that Hamas was deterred. The same military leaders who led a disastrous war against Hezbollah in 2006. The same military leaders who haven’t been able to come up with a plan to defeat Hamas in 2 years.
Regarding the Supreme Court. They are the most activist court in the world intervening on every issue in a country with no written constitution. The judicial reform is meant to return balance to the system. It is patently ridiculous that the government can’t fire an attorney general whose sole purpose in life seems to be thwarting the government. Everyone who can read, saw that the law explicitly states that the head of the GSS reports to the government and can be removed by the government and yet the court somehow ruled otherwise.
Joshua, your claim to trying to be "as unbiased as possible" reminds me of Yoda's immortal "Do, or do not. There is no try."
In fact, your essay emphasizes the points that support your case, while conveniently eliding past major issues concerning Netanyahu. To name a few:
1. His persistent attempts to undermine the justice system, the Supreme Court, and the legal process that is prosecuting him for possible crimes
2. His appallingly misguided strategy of allowing Hamas to be nurtured and funded for years as it constructed its vast network of tunnels, weapons cases and rockets
3. The failure of his government to heed warnings of an impending attack
4. His bending over to the will of the ultra right religious extremists, the devil with whom he has made his political bargain. This has taken the form of impeding efforts to relieve Israeli society of the parasitism of the Haredi faction, of permitting, even encouraging, fanatic settlers to attack West Bank Palestinians, and most recently an explicit effort to build more settlements to "split" the West Bank and render future deals far more difficult, if not impossible
5. His failure to condemn truly genocidal statements by Smotrich and Ben Gvir, which further alienate allies, most importantly diaspora Jews.
6. Repeatedly ignoring the counsel of seasoned IDF leaders with respect to the Gaza war
7. His misguided tactic of cutting off aid from March to June, without preparing adequately to create and administer a sufficiently competent, well-distributed alternative to the UN/Hamas-run process
These are far from trivial flaws. While he gets credit for presiding over the operations against Hezbollah and Iran, the other faults are glaring and in the end may be dispositive in a very negative way for both Israel and the Jewish people.
Regarding number 2, do you seriously think any of his rivals would have done differently? Obvious the policy was a terrible error but I am pretty sure no one in the Israeli establishment would have done it differently.
And your certainty on this would be based on… what? Experienced aid leaders quit at the time the decision was announced saying that it was unworkable and poorly planned. So it wasn't retrospective. Netanyahu and his enablers had warning. They chose to ignore it
My certainty on it is that in a decade of being in opposition not a single one of his political opponents suggested a different course. Other than of course the leftists that insist on creating two terror states on Israel's border.
Naftali Bennett, Education Minister at the time, publicly criticized the policy. He opposed allowing money to flow to Hamas, raising alarms about the implications.
I agree! Whatever you think of Netanyahu, he is brilliant. Stupid leaders love to hate him,the plight of the hostages is shocking. I do suspect that at this stage, a 60 day ceasefire would be catastrophic. I just don’t think that some of these poor souls will last that long. Hamas must release all of them now. They can’t be allowed to play these cruel games.
Agree 👍 💯 %
Without thousands in return
Great essay. Thanks. For anyone wanting to test the depth of a Bibi critic, you can always ask them: what SHOULD he be doing in Gaza?
Here is a dialogue I saw in what had been a very busy and argumentative comment thread following a Sam Harris substack.
:
: <Lots of argument, no suggestions from the critics... just accusations>
:
Person A: "What should Israel be doing?"
(a week passes)
Person B: "Funny how that question always clears the chatroom."
Person C: "They should have submitted a plan to the international courts and then followed it. Hope that helps."
Person B: "A plan to do what?"
Person C: "These plans are typically very thick and assessed by the powers that check them, and I don't believe the onus is on me to get more specific so that you can attempt to trip me. I find this exactly the right level of specificity. If you don't, OK."
I swear to you I did not make this up.
"They should have submitted a plan to the international courts" !!
Yes, Israel's sovereignty and survival should be placed in the hands of foreign bureaucrats, many of them hostile to Israel and to Jews. Imagine anyone suggesting this of any other country!
People will twist their brains into knots to justify their lame opinions, mostly because they've never thought them through but acquired them via social contagion.
If you gave most Western liberals truth serum then asked them "What should Israel be doing?" most would say they should surrender immediately and agree to live under permanent siege as this conflict is not much different from a Marvel movie to them and they want to exit the theater smiling at a happy ending.
Western liberals are trapped between obvious reality, their supposed values (tolerance, pluralism, civil and human rights) that they wield in every situation but this one, and the status of Palestinians as sacred victims—thus they can only sputter nonsense and achieve nothing but obvious cognitive dissonance.
It’s incredible, isn’t it? You are absolutely correct. FYI the Person C dialogue is 100% strictly verbatim—perfect poetry of ignorance, self-satirizing to a degree even the South Park creators would envy; puerile drivel distilled to molecular perfection.
People say the stupidest things when they are wedded to a certain conclusion or position and have to justify it by reasoning backwards. Opinions now are like bumper stickers or pins on a jacket, much more meant to signify allegiance to a group identity or a moral pose than grounded in any factual or logical basis.
The hivemind of the internet has swallowed most brains, especially the younger ones.
Netanyahu is the Winston Churchill of Israel and of this generation
The essay highlights yet another parallel between Trump and Netanyahu; both have citizens of their own countries and world-wide haters that are irrational and illogical and extreme. Trump was widely pilloried around the world during his first term; now, however, most of Europe's leaders are too afraid of Trump. After all, he was right about NATO (and immigration and crime and economics and much more) and now we find Europe dealing with Putin on their doorstep (a situation that happened under Biden's watch). Damn right they are treating Trump sooooo well now: They are terrified. Oh, how nicely and quickly Europe agreed to that 5% NATO contribution (when they vilified Trump in his first term for telling them they had to meet their commitments that were HALF that amount). Too bad Israel doesn't have that clout (yet) and thank GOD Trump is on Israel's side (thanks to Bibi's ability to clearly outline Iran's nuclear threat, as well as the New Middle East plans, and get Trump on board. How many world leaders could do THAT?)
Thank you, Joshua. As a non-Jewish American who reads both US and Israeli newspapers, navigating the politics of Israel is challenging. I understand why people criticize Netanyahu. He has certainly made some mistakes, not the least of which was acquiescing to Qatar’s funding of Hamas under the assumption this would reduce their desire to attack Israel (assuming this is even true - just what I have read). But everything else I read impresses me. He has a clear mission for Israel and his deft balancing of crazy Israeli politics is as good as it gets. When I look at the alternatives to Netanyahu who wait in the wings I am apprehensive of them. I fear that Israel will miss Netanyahu when he is gone. I hope that day is long coming.
I was convinced for a while Biden's administration was trying to get rid of Bibi via color revolution.
for all I know, this whole crap with Gaza may be part of that.
Just so. There is lots to criticize about Netanyahu but I refuse to make common cause with the Israeli left or the Western enemies of Israel who use him as an excuse for their hate.
I do not think there is any country or people or government or leadership in the world who are more pervasively and unrelentingly falsely slandered and demonized. It is an empty headed and demented double standard. I agree with your criticism of the mostly leftist Israelis who appear to be prioritizing the hostages over everything else, and the reasonableness of some aspects of the two leading right wing politicians policy concerns. I think it is universally wrong to bring religious beliefs into decision making because religions are all false, but it does not follow that the leftists secularists are better at understanding the overall dynamics relevant to moving forward. I also agree with your comments that in a coalition government the leader is constrained to operate within the contours of what is politically feasible and any sensible evaluation of Netanyahu must take that into account. I basically share your perspective.
You write: "commentators continue to paint Netanyahu as either paralyzed or reckless, particularly in the context of the ongoing war in Gaza."
All these commentators get their information from the woke, Leftist regressive Israeli media who detest Netanyahu and throw at him some of the worst accusations and libels that anyone can imagine. Anyway, I never voted for the guy but I can vouch that he is a virtuous in politics
the people hating Netanyahu are also the trump deranged. I was around for LBJ, Nixon, Reagan, ....I've never seen even for Nixon the amount of hate demonstrated against two men elected by a democratic electoral process. If we get the hyeana mamdani, it wlll be legal too. as you write, no such opprobrium ever against a host of miscreants including those of Venezeula and NIcaragua and Cuba.....who are instead lionized by the left as progressives. what a sick effing world.
PUT IN THE EARPLUGS AND FORGE AHEAD.
As always.......a wonderful essay Joshua! !!!!!......Thank you so much.......Blessings to you and yours forever.......
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a great leader who puts his people and country first. The terrorist defending west should be ashamed.
👏👏👏 An outstanding essay, Joshua! All of this is 100% true! I despise Benjamin Netanyahu and his ultra-conservative government but at the same time, there can be no doubt that Bibi has been a good wartime leader for Israel and accomplished some great things on behalf of his country. I will give credit where credit is due. The context that Joshua brings up here needs to be taken into account. The things he has achieved during his political career have been nothing short of remarkable. It’s also antisemitic and unproductive to focus only on Bibi while ignoring world leaders who are actually habitual human rights abusers like Vladimir Putin, Xi Jianping, the Ayatollahs of Iran, Kim Jong-Un, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Crown Prince Bin Salman, and Rodrigo Duerte. Don’t you think you should be more worried about the likes of them?
Also, one can’t blame Netanyahu, Smotrich and Ben-Gvir from turning down peace proposals that are bad for Israel’s national security. Whatever one may think of those three gentleman, they are the democratically elected government of Israel. Returning to the ceasefire proposals, it was Hamas who s******d around and wouldn’t negotiate in good faith. Joshua also is right that if we are going to go after Bibi and the governing coalition, equally scrutiny must be applied to the Israeli left for politicizing the plight of the hostages in Gaza.
To be clear, I don’t like the Israeli government. I think Netanyahu is a failed leader in every way. I consider the current governing coalition in Israel to be the worst in its history. They have no respect for Israel’s democratic institutions and are racist, Islamophobic, authoritarian, and just as staunchly opposed to peace between Israelis and Palestinians as Fatah and Hamas are. I consider Bibi’s government a quasi-dictatorship. I consider Smotrich and Ben-Gvir to be human garbage. I don’t like these people at all and want them out of power after the war is over. But Joshua makes some excellent points here and I world agree that Netanyahu needs to be treated fairly and objectively and the obsession with him while ignoring the atrocious actions of other world leaders is just absurd.
These are the same seasoned military leaders who supported the disengagement. The same military leaders who claimed that Hamas was deterred. The same military leaders who led a disastrous war against Hezbollah in 2006. The same military leaders who haven’t been able to come up with a plan to defeat Hamas in 2 years.
Regarding the Supreme Court. They are the most activist court in the world intervening on every issue in a country with no written constitution. The judicial reform is meant to return balance to the system. It is patently ridiculous that the government can’t fire an attorney general whose sole purpose in life seems to be thwarting the government. Everyone who can read, saw that the law explicitly states that the head of the GSS reports to the government and can be removed by the government and yet the court somehow ruled otherwise.
Outsiders have no idea what is going on in Israel’s courts. You got it.
Joshua, your claim to trying to be "as unbiased as possible" reminds me of Yoda's immortal "Do, or do not. There is no try."
In fact, your essay emphasizes the points that support your case, while conveniently eliding past major issues concerning Netanyahu. To name a few:
1. His persistent attempts to undermine the justice system, the Supreme Court, and the legal process that is prosecuting him for possible crimes
2. His appallingly misguided strategy of allowing Hamas to be nurtured and funded for years as it constructed its vast network of tunnels, weapons cases and rockets
3. The failure of his government to heed warnings of an impending attack
4. His bending over to the will of the ultra right religious extremists, the devil with whom he has made his political bargain. This has taken the form of impeding efforts to relieve Israeli society of the parasitism of the Haredi faction, of permitting, even encouraging, fanatic settlers to attack West Bank Palestinians, and most recently an explicit effort to build more settlements to "split" the West Bank and render future deals far more difficult, if not impossible
5. His failure to condemn truly genocidal statements by Smotrich and Ben Gvir, which further alienate allies, most importantly diaspora Jews.
6. Repeatedly ignoring the counsel of seasoned IDF leaders with respect to the Gaza war
7. His misguided tactic of cutting off aid from March to June, without preparing adequately to create and administer a sufficiently competent, well-distributed alternative to the UN/Hamas-run process
These are far from trivial flaws. While he gets credit for presiding over the operations against Hezbollah and Iran, the other faults are glaring and in the end may be dispositive in a very negative way for both Israel and the Jewish people.
All good points.
I greatly appreciate your openness to opposing views. It's a quality sadly lacking in discourse these days, particularly in social media.
Regarding number 2, do you seriously think any of his rivals would have done differently? Obvious the policy was a terrible error but I am pretty sure no one in the Israeli establishment would have done it differently.
And your certainty on this would be based on… what? Experienced aid leaders quit at the time the decision was announced saying that it was unworkable and poorly planned. So it wasn't retrospective. Netanyahu and his enablers had warning. They chose to ignore it
My certainty on it is that in a decade of being in opposition not a single one of his political opponents suggested a different course. Other than of course the leftists that insist on creating two terror states on Israel's border.
Naftali Bennett, Education Minister at the time, publicly criticized the policy. He opposed allowing money to flow to Hamas, raising alarms about the implications.
What did he propose instead? Post a link.
For starters, not funding Hamas.