2023-11-03 12:56:46
A growing list of Israeli officials have accepted responsibility for the security failure which preceded the brutal Hamas attack on October 7 that sparked the current war between Israel and Hamas. Conspicuously absent from that list is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Following the horrific attack, which marked the deadliest day for Israelis since the country was created 75 years ago, Netanyahu has repeatedly evaded accountability. Instead, he has blamed others, in what critics say shows a leader thinking more about his own political survival than calming and directing a traumatized nation.
“Netanyahu is fighting a personal battle for survival and that takes priority over Israel’s war against Hamas,” says Netanyahu’s biographer, journalist Anshel Pfeffer. “As part of that battle, he is prepared to defame those who are now in command of the army and Israel’s intelligence services.
When hundreds of Hamas militants overthrew Israel’s seemingly impenetrable security systems and stormed the country, security forces They were taken by surprise. Some 1,400 people died and it took hours for soldiers to arrive.
The attack also shattered a widely held belief among Israeli military, intelligence and political leaders that Hamas was not interested in a new conflict and that Israel’s military power served as a deterrent.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Reuters
Israel’s top security officials, including the chief of the General Staff, the defense minister and the head of the Shin Bet internal security agency, stepped forward and they accepted responsibility for the security blunder. Netanyahu, however, has not taken full responsibility for those mistakes despite having been premier 13 of the last 14 years. He says there will be time for investigations…after the war.
“This debacle will be investigated. “Everyone will have to give answers, including me,” said Netanyahu, two and a half weeks after the very serious episode. But has downplayed the criticism and has rejected suggestions that he should resign. “The only thing I intend to make Hamas resign. “We are going to resign them to the dustbin of history,” he told reporters last weekend. “That is my responsibility.”
Netanyahu, a polarizing figure in Israel, with corruption cases that would corner him if he leaves power, has also faced criticism for his response to the crisis. He has been accused of failing to unite the nation with no resonant and edifying speech or act. Many Israelis have noted that US President Joe Biden, who visited Israel in the days after the attack, had better fulfilled that role.
Netanyahu was criticized for waiting many days to visit the families of the more than 240 people kidnapped by Hamas, most of whom came from kibbutz. free trend who do not vote for Netanyahu and have criticized his alliance with far-right parties. The economy, moreover, is in a spiral and Israelis lament the government’s slow response to address the urgent needs of 250,000 displaced Israelis.
But the biggest stir came over the weekend, when in a late-night tweet, Netanyahu deliberately blamed his security chiefs for the debacle, saying that he never received any warning from them about Hamas’s intentions and was instead guided by their conclusions that the terrorist group was deterred.
The centrist opposition leader, Benny Gantz, member of the emergency cabinet and critic of Netanyahu. AP
Netanyahu’s new wartime ruling partner criticized him. “During war, leaders must act responsibly,” published Benny Gantz, former chief of the military General Staff, with a high profile in the polls and asking Netanyahu to retract his words. The premier deleted the tweet and later apologized, saying it “should not have been said.”
But critics say the damage has already been done. Idit Shafran Gittleman of Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies said the message spread at a time when faith in Israel’s security services is at an all-time low. “There is damage to senior security officials, but also damage to the faith of the soldiers on the ground,” who see their prime minister focused on other things besides winning the war.
Polls show support for Netanyahu’s Likud party has collapsed, the public considers it significantly less fit to govern than his main political opponent, Gantzand his current coalition does not have nearly the support necessary to govern if the elections were held today.
This is also not the first time Netanyahu has deflected blame for a crisis during his tenure. He has dismissed a corruption trial as part of a Witch hunt against him orchestrated by the media.
And last year, while testifying before an investigation into the death of 45 people in a stampede at a Jewish pilgrimage site, Netanyahu said he was unaware of the problems that led to that tragedy. “You can’t take responsibility for what you don’t know,” he said.
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