In May and June 1940, soon after taking over as prime minister of Britain and around the time of the fall of France to the Nazis, Winston Churchill gave three speeches to the House of Commons that roused the spirits of his countrymen.
The second was delivered on June 4, 1940, and is a considered an oratorical masterpiece.
“Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous states have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail,” Churchill said in his unique cadence.
“We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemed to be channeling this speech on Saturday night when he said:“The war within the Strip will be hard and long, and we are prepared for it. This is our second War of Independence. We will fight for the defense of our homeland. We will fight and not retreat. We will fight on land, sea, and air. We will destroy the enemy above ground and below ground. We will fight and we will win.”
He added: “This will be a victory of good over evil, of light over darkness, of life over death. In this war, we stand together, united as never before, confident in the righteousness of our path. This is the mission of our lives. It is also my life mission.”
Taking responsibility
He then took questions, and the first question asked him whether he accepted responsibility for October 7.
“I already said, and I repeat and say again, after the war, everyone, everyone, will have to give answers to difficult questions, including me. There was a horrible debacle; it will be investigated thoroughly, and no rock will be left unturned. Now, my supreme objective is to save the state, to bring our soldiers to complete victory over Hamas and the forces of evil,” he said.
This was Netanyahu’s strongest appearance since the war began. It was a shame, therefore, that he prevented it from resonating, when a couple of hours later, he posted a tweet that blamed others for the debacle.
“At no point, was a warning given to Prime Minister Netanyahu on Hamas’s intention to start a war,” the Prime Minister’s Office posted, seemingly out of nowhere.
“On the contrary, all the defense officials, including the heads of Military Intelligence and the Shin Bet assessed that Hamas was deterred. This was the assessment submitted time after time to the prime minister and the cabinet by all the entities in the defense and the intelligence community right up until the war broke out.”
Though Netanyahu said that winning the war was his life’s mission, that tweet demonstrated that he has another mission as well: diverting blame onto others.
The tweet was jarring for another reason as well: Netanyahu just said that no rock would left unturned to investigate the colossal failure of October 7, but that all that would have to wait until after the war. Now, the only goal was victory.
Yet there he was, or there was his staff, posting on social media after midnight, showing that there were other things on his mind and the mind of his office, that he had another mission as well – deflecting responsibility, apportioning blame.
The direct cause of the tweet was a question that he was asked during the press conference about whether it was true that he did not act on information he received in documents from the Shin Ben and Military Intelligence before the October 7 warning that there was a greater probability of war.
The premise of the question was mistaken, Netanyahu said during the press conference, and his post expanded on that shore reply.
But it hit a raw nerve.
Here were soldiers now in the middle of a ground incursion into Gaza, here were 230 Israelis being held hostage in Gaza, and the prime minister was busy blaming others for the fiasco? While Netanyhau’s speech, that one with the Churchillan chords, was apparently intended to make him appear like a strong wartime leader, that post made him look like a petty politician.
And the one thing the country does not need now in the middle of a war against a brutal enemy is the type of petty politics that divided the state for the last five years.
Netanyahu’s post triggered a furious response, including from Benny Gantz, one of his co-pilots in the emergency government’s war cabinet, who said publicly that Netanyahu needed to retract it.
And retract it, he did. Netanyahu deleted the post and did something he almost never does: publicly admitted a mistake.
“I made a mistake,” he wrote. “The things I said after the press conference should not have been said, and I apologize for that. I give full support to all heads of security agencies. I support the chief of staff and the commanders and soldiers of the IDF, who are at the front and fighting for the home front. Together, we will win.”While Netanyahu’s apology is to be commended, his inability to say the words “I am responsible” or even “I share responsibility” for the October 7 disaster is as problematic as was the attempt to deflect the blame onto the security establishment.
Why does taking responsibility matter?
Because the country, as a result of October 7, has lost faith in its leaders – political and military. The country feels let down, and the first step needed to rectify the situation is for the leaders – those responsible for the debacle – to own up to their responsibility.
Only then can the process of rebuilding trust begin. With this country now amid a ground invasion of Gaza, carrying out counter-terror operations in Judea and Samaria, and involved in skirmishes with Hezbollah in the North, it needs to have its trust in its leaders rebuilt quickly.
Taking responsibility means admitting mistakes and hopefully learning from them. A failure to do so indicates a lack of awareness of one’s own defects that led to a disaster.
Taking responsibility for mistakes shows leaders willing to rise above themselves and their egos, something that can help unite the country. A failure to do so calls into question leaders’ judgment and ultimately chips away at their legitimacy.
Netanyahu’s post about not getting any warnings from the Shin Bet or Military Intelligence demonstrated a degree of tone deafness. He wisely deleted that tweet and apologized. His refusal to admit responsibility, however, is an even greater demonstration of not being in touch with the public. He would do well to remedy that as well.