Benjamin Netanyahu should have resigned. That was the sentiment of millions of Israelis in the aftermath of the massacre that cost 1,200 lives on October 7, 2023. Israel was surprised by a terrorist group that should never have been able to invade a country protected by an army as powerful as the Israel Defense Forces.
The failures that allowed for the attack belonged to Israel’s intelligence agencies, military, and most of all, its political leadership. As the leader of the Israeli government, the buck stopped with Netanyahu.
Fast forward over a year and a half and Israel’s enemies have been weakened to the point of defeat. Israel surprised Iran and the world with an attack that revealed Iran as a paper tiger, feared for decades with little to no reason.
Israel quickly gained control of Iran’s airspace, effectively making it powerless to stop Israel Air Force planes from bombing its launchers and bases.
Israeli leaders, as in any democracy, are constantly criticized. In a country not much known for its athletic prowess, political criticism is Israel’s national sport. Whether deserved or not, Israeli politicians expect to be condemned for everything from national security policies to late-running trains.
Although Israel is the Jewish state, Israelis are eclectic. The population includes Jews, Muslims, Christians, Bedouins, Druze, and a flurry of others.
The nation has a 3,000-year history of division. The modern partisan, parliamentary, multi-party system encourages a plethora of opinions that generates even more division.
With Israel’s 30 political parties, a prime minister can only hope for 25% of the electorate to vote for them. Israel’s last prime minister, Naftali Bennett, only garnered less than 6% of the vote. This low level of support ensures a higher-than-normal level of criticism.
In addition to Israel’s sport of political criticism, diverse population, and parliamentary system, Prime Minister Netanyahu must also face a people who demand perfection from their leaders.
Compared to Moses’s day, when the Israelites enjoyed food that literally fell from heaven, and yet he still had to face criticism for a lack of meat in the people’s regular diet, to today’s leaders facing condemnation for fast trains not running fast enough, Israelis don’t give their leaders any leeway.
With a largely left-wing press, a right-wing prime minister like Netanyahu faces even more criticism. Netanyahu has also been in power for close to 20 years, and the longer a leader governs, the more disapproval they will face.
BEGINNING DURING his first round as prime minister in the late 1990s, Netanyahu was the first Israeli leader to loudly raise the alarm over Iran’s sponsorship of terrorist proxies and nuclear weapons development.
According to his account, Netanyahu tried convincing the army to attack Iran in 2012 but was outvoted. For the next 13 years, he began a program of sabotage that prevented Iran from achieving its dream of a nuclear weapon.
Bravely, Netanyahu opposed former US president Barack Obama in Congress and in doing so was accused of splitting American support of Israel along partisan lines.
He orchestrated the theft of millions of documents from Iran that proved Iran lied in the JCPOA and exposed more nuclear facilities. Over time, his courage and perseverance set the stage for Americans to fully recognize the dangers Iran posed to the entire world. It was no coincidence that one of the main critiques that President Trump used to differentiate himself from president Obama was their Iranian policies – and that president Joe Biden also prioritized stopping Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
Most leaders would have quit in the face of the failures and condemnations of the October 7 failure. Similar to prime minister Golda Meir, Netanyahu understood that it was his responsibility to bring the nation from disaster to security and victory. Although conventional wisdom tells a story of Golda resigning after the Yom Kippur War, she actually ran for reelection and won a resounding victory in 1974.
In the lead up to the attack on Iran, Netanyahu wisely traveled to the White House twice to bring President Trump in on his plans to attack Iran and made sure to earn his support.
When Trump wanted to exhaust all diplomatic options, Netanyahu agreed and delayed his attack until Trump’s deadline passed. This ensured that Trump was convinced the Iranians were unmovable and not serious about negotiating a deal.
When he ordered the attack, Netanyahu surprised those who needed to be surprised, but made sure those who needed to know were informed well in advance. This cooperation and team work led to Trump and the US joining Israel in its attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Leading Israel in fighting seven wars on seven fronts
SINCE OCTOBER 7, Prime Minister Netanyahu has led Israel in fighting seven different wars on seven different fronts. Israelis will always disagree as to what constitutes a victory against terrorist organizations that swear they’ll never surrender, but it is obvious that Israel has overpowered its enemies to the point that they no longer pose a serious threat to Israeli security.
While doing that, he has kept Israeli Arabs from rioting as they did in 2021, and Palestinians in the West Bank have not started any major uprisings, such as a third intifada. He has eliminated Iran as a nuclear threat for the coming years, if not forever, defeated its proxies, and ensured it can no longer control the region.
It is also important to note that Netanyahu has done all of this while he is under trial for corruption, suffered a bout of cancer, had numerous assassination attempts on his life, including a drone fired at his bedroom, and had a warrant issued for his arrest over trumped up charges of war crimes and genocide by the International Criminal Court.
This is a Herculean achievement for any individual, and he celebrated his 75th birthday this year.
Netanyahu deserves criticism for his failures that led to the October 7 massacre. As the leader of Israel, he is ultimately responsible for the nation’s security.
By the same token, as the leader of Israel, he deserves credit in the same measure for Israel’s victories and military success in the war since October 8, 2023. All Israelis owe prime minister Netanyahu a debt of gratitude and their appreciation.
The writer is a certified interfaith hospice chaplain in Jerusalem and the mayor of Mitzpe Yeriho, where she lives with her husband and six children.