“…the great IDF, that was supposed to protect them, disappeared and left them alone against a satanic and bloodthirsty enemy that murdered, burned, raped, looted, and kidnapped for long hours almost without interference.” – Yoav Limor, Israel Hayom, 12 July 2024.
The real dimensions of Israel’s failure to provide for the most basic part of the social contract, to protect its citizens against attack, are only now becoming clear. But nine months after the disaster of 7 October 2023, one thing is undeniable:
Almost all of those in the government, the IDF, and all the security services who were responsible for the policies that made the invasion and massacre possible, who did not have adequate contingency plans, who ignored compelling intelligence information beforehand, and whose response was inexcusably slow and inadequate, still have their jobs.
Now the same people are negotiating a deal with the Hamas filth that will allow them to stay in control of Gaza, rebuild their capabilities, and do it again.
All of them, from the Prime Minister and the Chief of Staff down, have to go. They have proven themselves at best incompetent and at worst criminally negligent, and must not be allowed to continue to abandon our people to the monsters waiting on our borders.
The state’s top priority must be to destroy Hamas’ military capabilities and remove it from power. It must be possible for Israelis to return to their homes in the south of the country without fear. And we must face the horrible reality that this takes precedence over returning the remaining hostages.
I’m tired of hearing from our politicians that it is our “moral duty” to rescue (a few of!) the hostages by surrendering to Hamas. It isn’t – our actual duty is to face the truth, which is that the price of a deal is far too high and endangers the existence of the state. The only option is to increase the military pressure.
I understand the real constraints, including the policies of the Biden administration, the equally pressing need of the tens of thousands of Israelis that are displaced from their homes in the north, the capabilities of Hezbollah, and the Iranian nuclear project. And I understand the dangers posed by the Left, which wants to use the crisis to seize power against the will of the great majority of Jewish Israelis. But we cannot allow failed politicians and generals to continue to fail. This crisis is existential, and they have proven that they are not up to the job.
Unfortunately we don’t have the time it would take to have an election campaign and coalition negotiations. And even if the process produced a government (which is not at all certain), our broken system could easily result in one more corrupt and incompetent than the present one.
Now what?
“Now what” seems to be the question being asked in the USA, the EU, Britain, etc. I don’t see anyone worthy of the PM position at the moment & like so many other countries the people are so divided. I agree that the mission at this point is to win over Hamas at whatever cost. Hezbolla looks like the next front to deal with. Israel is in a terrible position right now but I will never give up on her determination to survive & thrive.
The West wants to press Israel to commit national suicide.
And many in the Israeli elite are all too willing to cooperate because of their dependence upon it.
I agree they need to be replaced. I don’t know what will happen in the meantime.
For the foreseeable future, the options Israel faces range from bad to worse.
Victor,
I could not agree more with your statement that all the Israeli political, security and intelligence “leadership” has to go. But with whom are they going to be replaced?
Referring to the security and intelligence apparatuses: will the middle level personnel in the security and intelligence branches rise up and throw out the failures at the top?
Referring to the political apparatus: this is even more complicated, given Israel’s completely dysfunctional political system. Are there enough Likudniks, Religious Zionists, some from Lieberman’s and Gantz’s parties and even some from Yesh Atid, who can come together and throw out the failures? Who would lead them?
And who among the new leadership would have the cajones to go against a hostile American administration?
I believe that in the middle ranks of the IDF there are officers who have a different point of view than the ones on top.
They are unlikely to be promoted in the normal process. But they are there.
The political echelon has a different problem: the broken electoral system.
The question is “how to shake things up and bring about fundamental change without self-destructive violence?” I don’t know what the answer is, but we better find one.