With street violence intensifying, and threats to leave the government mounting, Benjamin Netanyahu should give this speech:
My friends: On Saturday night, a counter-protester saying “it’s good your children died,” injured Gadi Kedem of Kibbutz Nir Oz. Hamas slaughtered Kedem’s daughter, son-in-law, and three grandchildren. Please, from Left to Right, remember who our enemies are: they are not our fellow Israelis, especially October 7 survivors.
Let’s calm the rhetoric. Let’s end the violence. Stop finger-pointing and start taking responsibility for our actions – and our allies’ behavior. I apologize for everything I’ve done to foment such divisiveness. We all must do better – because our internal divisions only please our external enemies.
This is a long, hard war
Admittedly, this war is a slog. We face hard choices daily. I plan to give a fuller analysis, in Hebrew, next week, to security and political experts, leaving time for questions.
Meanwhile, let’s acknowledge some of the war’s successes. For years, as Hamas fortified Gaza, the West constrained us from defending ourselves properly. The West also insisted Hamas was “pragmatic.” Every expert predicted massive IDF losses if we invaded.
Despite Hamas’s cowering behind their own people – and our hostages – amid treacherous urban warfare, our soldiers have fought remarkably. I mourn every casualty of this Hamas-imposed war. But their sacrifices and our soldiers’ skill avoided the thousands of military deaths everyone predicted. No politician ever won with the slogan: “It could have been worse.” But every general knows that’s the best you can get from this kind of war, once our precious soldiers start falling.
Similarly, even Hamas’s exaggerated claims of Palestinian casualties defies the doom-and-gloomers. “It could’ve been worse” certainly won’t mollify Jew-haters who don’t respect your right to defend yourself. But the UN estimates 10 innocents are killed in general for every enemy killed in urban warfare – our ratio approaches one civilian for every terrorist killed. Those ratios make a mockery of the arrest warrants issued via CNN.
THAT SO many Westerners, who tolerate their own armies killing more civilians, protest every Palestinian death, including Hamasniks’, exposes their hypocrisy and moral confusion.
These furious denunciations don’t object to what Israel does but that Israel is. Palestinian propagandists have duped too many Westerners – who don’t notice that anti-Israel protesters burn American and British flags, too.
Still, we Israelis face excruciating dilemmas. No one has to convince me that freeing the hostages is essential. So why not protest effectively? Export your fury, pressuring the Qataris abroad and Western militaries to pressure Hamas relentlessly. Protests here only strengthen Hamas’s stubbornness and increase their demands.
Still, perhaps I’m wrong. I invite every Knesset party to send one representative to form a committee seeking realistic alternatives – and we’ll consider them.
But make no mistake: this war will continue until we crush Hamas militarily. So, if anyone wants the war over immediately, pressure Hamas to surrender and to free our hostages.
Regarding the “day after,” I’m focused on winning the war today – our existential priority. I invite my rival, Yair Lapid, to stop demonstrating and start leading. Let him convene an international task force to develop proposals for governing Gaza. But respect these limitations: no Hamasniks, no Jihadists, no Palestinian supporters of terror, and no return to October 6 delusions. Central to this new normal will be a one-kilometer buffer zone between Gaza and our people – and an airtight blockade along the Philadelphi corridor – which I should have imposed earlier; we waited too long.
The war cabinet will consider Lapid’s plans seriously. Let’s complete that process by mid-June, so media sniping and international browbeating don’t demoralize our soldiers.
I NOW embrace our holy Northerners. “Thank you” – you have endured unprecedented disruptions for too long. But let’s be clear, it’s Hezbollah’s fault. They attacked us without cause – just like Hamas. They, too, will get their comeuppance. But no patriotic Israeli would want me to specify how and when we will respond. Just know, dear Northerners, you aren’t forgotten.
Finally, to all Israelis – let’s learn from our soldiers and reservists to respect one another, to cooperate, despite our differences. Winston Churchill defined courage as “what it takes to stand up and speak” … and “what it takes to sit down and listen.”
I’m listening. I acknowledge that many of you wish I would resign. But most of us know this is not the time for elections. It would embolden our enemies, holding our political future hostage to their rockets and timetables.
So let’s make a deal. Although my government deserves longer, and I prefer democracy by voters not pollsters, give me a year.
If by next June, 70% of you keep demanding it – I will resign. Depending on security, I will appoint a successor or end this government. This understanding gives me a year to improve the situation – and you a reason to shift from attacking my government to strengthening our country, as you all did magnificently after October 7.
Until then, let’s win this war against Hamas, free the hostages expeditiously but intelligently, and crush Hezbollah up North – as soon as we’ve stabilized the South. And I promise – no more sniping at our military leaders, no more libeling rivals, no more attack machine. I demand that my allies follow my lead.
We all know we need one another. We all know that fostering unity is our only recipe for victory.
Churchill also said: “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” I’m ready to change. Let’s all seek perfection – for our soldiers, our kids, and our beloved state.
The writer, a senior fellow in Zionist thought at the JPPI, the Jewish People Policy Institute, is an American presidential historian and the editor of a three-volume set, Theodor Herzl: Zionist Writings, the inaugural publication of The Library of the Jewish People (www.theljp.org).