“Don’t Preach to My Cabinet Ministers.”

PM Benjamin Netanyahu Rebukes IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi in Cabinet

Last Thursday there was a doozer of a leak of a recorded exchange involving PM Netanyahu, several of his cabinet ministers and IDF Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi.

And I’d bet the farm that it was released by the Prime Minister’s Office directly, given the choice bits that were shared; the exchanges were clearly intended to stoke Bibi’s political base. It’s classic Likud stuff that loyalists would perceive to be the best qualities of their Bibi, a strong, decisive, take-charge and no guff kind of leader, in command and focused. There was also an important message for the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court; the former where Israel is in the dock at the moment, while Bibi may find himself charged personally in the future in the latter court.

Netanyahu delivered his perfectly scripted lines – that all government and military leaders understand that his priority is to honor and adhere to international law – which was directed at both courts, and the world.

This declaration was provoked by a highly unusual incident last week. Not only did the event raise questions regarding Israeli institutional legal conduct vis a vis the Palestinians but also with respect to Israeli citizens domestically. A country that is perceived to run roughshod over fundamental legal principles typically respected in a liberal democracy may, well, be viewed unfavorably by the courts. International courts, in particular.

So. What happened? Mobs of extreme right-wing supporters of National Security Minister, Itamar Ben Gvir and Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich stormed two IDF bases. They were protesting the detention of nine reserve soldiers who were alleged to have sexually abused Hamas prisoners. Not only were members of Netanyahu’s government silent about this alarming and violent conduct, but several of his caucus colleagues participated in and encouraged these “protests.”

IDF Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi – quite appropriately, in my view - told the Prime Minister and Cabinet members in the meeting that it was important that they speak out publicly and express the strongest outrage regarding such conduct. The Prime Minister himself had remained silent on this very disturbing incident. For more than a week.

“Don’t preach to my cabinet ministers” snapped Netanyahu. At his military chief of staff. Who has been managing an existential, multi-front war for ten months.

Netanyahu assured those in the room that his abiding concern and expectation was that all Israeli government and military authorities adhere to international law. His nemesis (whose support he needs to stay in power) Itamar Ben Gvir, snapped: “You’re just sucking up to the Hague.” That, of course, is in reference to the very real possibility that the ICC will issue arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu, personally, as well as the case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. I rarely agree with Ben Gvir but in this situation he his spot on. Bibi was addressing the International Courts, not the room in which he found himself at that moment.

To this day, Ben Gvir and his like-minded colleagues are deeply offended by the manner in which the reserve soldiers were detained; by masked IDF soldiers and border guards who escorted them off the base. That was ugly and insensitive, several ministers felt. When told by Halevi that these young soldiers – male and female - had previously received death threats and their photographs had been posted online, several ministers scoffed at this, stating that this is a fact of life for the prime minister and Yariv Levin, Minister of Justice.

What they did not mention was that those ministers are provided 24/7 security details by the state. Teenage soldiers are not.

Which prompted Minister of Defence, Yoav Gallant, to comment: “I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Nineteen-year-old soldiers are being turned into the enemy. Where are we living?”

To which I would add. What have we become?

Something has shifted. Like – a tectonic shift. It’s impossible to pinpoint exactly what and when; it is more likely the cumulative effect of ten months of constant shock and extreme tension. But these last two weeks of waiting…..for Iran to drop the hammer. For its various regional proxies to join in the attack. After ten months of war. Something has broken in these last two weeks.

In the aftermath of October 7^th, as Israel came to terms with the scope of the Hamas savagery, the hostages and the mobilization of sons and daughters and husbands and fathers pressed into reserve duty, again, well, we all thought…..OK…..we’ll get the job done quickly and find a way to move through it.

Rescue the hostages. Degrade Hamas’ military capabilities.

Truthfully, though, I never bought the quick and dirty narrative. I thought and believed from October 7 that we had been pulverized to the deepest recesses of our souls; that this crisis was truly existential and could not be managed with slogans promoting unity, which were everywhere and compelling. Who would dare, in the midst of such a profound and unprecedented national crisis, to do anything but try to pull together?

The pretense was a lie, even if we tried hard to believe it.

Israel is not unified and, in fact, after ten months of unrelenting strain and war, it is more cleaved than ever.

We have a government that most Israelis consider to be extreme and too right wing. I’m not even sure that “right wing” is an appropriate term. I prefer extreme messianists.

Also last week, Bezalel Smotrich stated that the starvation of two-million people in Gaza wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday in the southern city of Ofakim – which was attacked by Hamas on October 7 – Smotrich stated that blocking humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip is justified and moral, even if two million civilians may die of hunger. “We bring in aid because there is no choice. …Nobody will let us cause 2-million civilians to die of hunger, even though it might be justified and moral. Until our hostages are returned.”

He is the Minister of Finance. His like-minded colleague, Itamar Ben Gvir, is the Minister of National Security. There are those who see Ben Gvir and Smotrich as brave and proud Jewish redeemers. Many others see them as brutish thugs.

And then, there was the piece de resistance: Bibi on the cover of TIME magazine last week. “Bibi at War”, was the title.

Many Israelis were not impressed.

Netanyahu ignores the Israeli press, other than the most supplicant outlets.

This has been going on for years but particularly since November, 2022, when the heat began to build over his planned judicial reform. He started doing podcast and television interviews only with American celebrity journalists who were besotted with the Man. They lobbed one softball after another and he did his avuncular Bibi thing.

Israeli journalists would have sliced and diced him six ways to Sunday. They have the knowledge and the chops to challenge him. They are neither charmed any longer nor does he intimidate them. So he does his workaround with the foreign media and gives time to people like Dr. Phil. And TIME.

Israeli media did report on this bit of his TIME interview; that the Prime Minister sort of, kind of apologized but, as always, hedged by saying that he wasn’t responsible for October 7 because he relied upon advice from intelligence and army. Right. He has yet to take responsibility and express remorse for October 7, anywhere. He has, however pointed fingers at his military, intelligence and security advisers. “They didn’t tell me.”

And we are to believe that Mr. Security, Bibi Netanyahu, just sat there and just received reports with no substantive input or questioning. If he did that then he should resign. And if he did not do that then he should resign. It is a matter of honor and principle that he accepts responsibility.

I don’t recall exactly where but at some point last week, Netanyahu schoffed at the suggestion that he should resign because October 7 went down on his watch. He invoked Churchill. WWII happened on his watch. Should he have resigned?

Slightly different circumstances, but, no. Churchill should not have resigned. It was because of his fortitude and leadership that the United Kingdom and the allied forces fought so valiantly and saved Europe from Nazi domination and triumph. Netanyahu is saying that he was misled.

Did he push back?

Netanyahu has time for TIME, but has yet to meet with bereaved families, hostages who have returned from Gaza and families of those still in captivity. He has yet to visit most of the kibbutzim and small communities that were attacked.

At the end of the week, on the Friday night news panel on channel 12 – no fans of Bibi’s (with the exception of political reporter, Amit Segal) - the rage was palpable. I have never seen these very professional reporters and analysts so openly vent their spleen, worry and anger.

They spoke of what we all know to be true; that large numbers of Israel’s best and brightest have been decamping in recent months to relocate abroad with their young families. The brains that have built the tech industry. Capital – human and fungible- is flowing out, not in. No one speaks about the economy which, for all intents and purposes, has not been functioning at all normally. Hundreds of thousands of reserve soldiers and non-serving Israelis are depleted, physically, psychologically, financially. Businesses are shutting down at unprecedented rates. Approximately 200,000 civilians are displaced from their homes in the north and the south. Whole towns and villages have been destroyed. Rebuilding is complicated, particularly as war continues to rage on both fronts. Residents of the border kibbutzim in the south want to return but the likelihood of that materializing is remote. There is a trickle of older kibbutz members choosing to live in their ravaged communities and they are joined by young, idealistic Israelis. No families have or will returned. I know of only one southern kibbutz where families are slowly going home but it is a very uneasy experiment.

The kibbutz where I now live in the south is building 140 new homes for the displaced residents and survivors of Kibbutz Kfar Aza, one of the hardest hit on October 7. It has been extraordinary to watch a new mini-town literally pop up in the last month-and-a-half. Families with children are moving in first in early September to begin the school year. Older residents will follow.

We are building a new nursery school for the Kfar Aza kids, renovating the communal dining room (which has been in disuse for some years now) and expanding the kibbutz grade school to integrate the newcomers. When I spoke with a member of kibbutz management a few days ago, it became clear that the population of Kibbutz Ruchama, which is hosting Kfar Aza, will more or less double in population. Overnight.

Clearly, this raises many, many logistical and other challenges for Ruchama, which will be managed in the coming months and, possibly, years. The question that nobody addresses is the obvious one: Will this temporary change become permanent?

I am inclined to think it will.

But no one at the Cabinet table is talking about this.

On Friday, we learned that several senior security and intelligence officials were warning that among the hostages who are still alive – quite a few from Kfar Aza - the lives of many hang by a thread, due to physical and mental illness and untreated injuries. Without an imminent deal for their release they may well die. And this is why, in spite of all this regional and domestic turmoil, negotiators are reportedly plugging away at the table in order to finalize a deal framework.

Smotrich and Ben Gvir oppose a deal, saying that Israel will compromise too much on too many fundamental issues. What they fail to understand is that this horrific episode is quite literally tearing apart what’s left of the tattered national fabric.

Then again, perhaps that is exactly what Smotrich and his extremist allies in this government want. A new Israel. That reflects their messianist fervor. If so, I suggest they take a “time out” and have a good think on how that may augur for the economic, military and social future of Israel.

The hostages – and this government’s rather detached attitude – rip to shreds the heart of this country. What has bound Israelis to this point are the common causes of nation-building, ensuring security and the promise to do anything and everything to protect the people. We have failed the hostages and, in doing so, the nation.

The promise of this country has been broken.