Independence Day Reflections: On Dr. Phil, Bibi, Hostages, the IDF Morgue.

The state of the State of Israel, between the lines.

“The government’s first responsibility is to protect the people. That’s the ultimate enveloping responsibility. People weren’t protected. We have to admit that.”

That’s the closest that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come to assuming personal responsibility for the October 7th horror. But you can drive a Mack truck through that comment and he clearly intended that ambiguity. A master wordsmith and orator, the man chooses his words. With precision.

Prime Minister Netanyahu made this comment last week during a lengthy interview with American talk show celebrity, Dr. Phil. A few days ago, Dr. Phil published online a one hour long interview with the Prime Minister, in which Netanyahu made these remarks.

To his credit, Dr. Phil pressed the Prime Minister to explain whether he bore any direct responsibility for October 7th. Netanyahu bobbed and weaved like a champion, dodging blows and avoiding admissions. What matters, he said, is that we win the war and prevent a recurrence of the disaster.

Well. Actually, what also matters is that those responsible for this catastrophe take responsibility for their extreme dereliction of duty. Netanyahu has yet to do so.

For seven months he has avoided Israeli media and the public. Prime Minister Netanyahu grants an audience only to foreign – typically American – megastars to amplify his message. To a person, they are in awe of the man and fail to challenge him as the domestic Israeli media would - and justifiably so - given half a minute. But the locals are sidelined.

In spite of his skirting of personal responsibility in the interview with Dr. Phil, Netanyahu has pointedly and publicly blamed many others for the failure of every level of government and the IDF on October 7th.

It is incomprehensible - a word I overuse these days - that the Prime Minister who presided over the greatest disaster in Israeli history continues to hold his head high and carry on as if his honor is untouched.

Honor. What an obsolete concept.

On Thursday night, Israel’s channel 12 aired an interview with 29-year-old Sapir Cohen. Beautiful and poised, she returned to Kibbutz Nir Oz. Her boyfriend of one year, Sasha Troufanov, had grown up on Nir Oz and they went together to visit his family. Sasha, 28, works at Amazon and is a rising star in its tech engineering group. His father, Vitali, was murdered on October 7^th by Hamas terrorists. His mother, Lena was taken hostage. She was also featured in one of the Hamas propaganda videos. In the screen shot, below, Lena Troufanov is seated on the right.

Sasha and Sapir were taken hostage separately. Her last moment with her soul mate was heart rending. “He looked at me screaming, ‘No, No!’”, she remembers. “That was the last communication between us. I couldn’t say anything- I didn’t want to say parting words.”

At some point during her time in Gaza, Sasha and Lena encountered one another in the Hamas tunnels. Lena had been certain that her son and his partner had been murdered. She broke down in tears of relief when she saw Sapir.

Lena and Sapir were released by Hamas on November 29. Sasha remains a hostage in Hell.

Sapir recently returned to Nir Oz with an Israeli television journalist and entered the incinerated hulk of the room where she and Sasha spent the night of October 6^th.