A Letter to B. Netanyahu, ‘Accept Responsibility!’

To the Prime Minister, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu

On the eve of Rosh Hashanah, 5786

My name is Hanoch Ben Pazi, one of many concerned, yet devoted citizens of the State of Israel. I see myself as a religious person, committed to Israeli society, to the Jewish tradition, and to human values. I work in the fields of philosophy and Jewish thought, and I strive to contribute to the moral and spiritual repair of Israeli society. From this modest perspective, after more than seven hundred days since “the Seventh of October,” I address you in this public appeal:

“The time has come for you to accept responsibility.”
Why now?

In the first year after “October Seventh,” I thought you should not resign. I thought it better that the war be led by a sitting Prime Minister—for better or for worse. After that year had passed, I waited, in trusting expectation for you to declare it yourself.

But as we now approach two full years, and as we stand at the threshold of the Days of Awe, it must be said: “The time has come.”

“October Seventh” is not merely another painful day in Israel’s history. It is a day that demands a national reckoning. It calls upon all of us to accept responsibility for that day.
There are different kinds of responsibility: official responsibility, criminal and legal responsibility, moral responsibility, and religious responsibility.

Some responsibility cannot be denied. You stood at the head of Israel’s government and at the head of our security establishment. You presided over the hierarchy on the day of the most terrible massacre the Jewish people has endured in many decades. You are the one who bears the full and ultimate responsibility for everything that transpired on that dreadful day, “October Seventh.”

It is incumbent upon you to stand before the people of Israel, accept responsibility, and step down.

I have often studied the farewell speeches of the Biblical Moses in the Book of Deuteronomy.
I believe Moses’s greatest courage lay in his ability to accept responsibility and to take leave of the people. This is a profound lesson from the greatest leader the Jewish people ever had.
Despite his anger and indignation at Israel and although he believed he was paying the price for their mistakes, when the moment of truth arrived, he stood before the people, accepted responsibility, parted from them, and commanded them to continue forward, thereby renewing their covenant. In this way, ancient Israel was able to renew both “the Covenant of Fate” with their fellow human beings and “the Covenant of Destiny” with their God.

Many others far more qualified than I can analyze the conduct of the war, Israeli public diplomacy, and subsequent policy.It is not hard to point both to phenomenal achievements and tocolossal failures: to successes and failures in bringing the hostages home; to the anguish of the hostages’ families; to the fallen and their bereaved families; to the prolongation of one war, and the shortening of another; to the unbearable number of murdered, killed, displaced, wounded, and traumatized.

But I ask you to return with me to that most terrible morning of “October Seventh,”
a morning of violence and extreme evil, of grace and of steadfastness, a morning of shock and horror at the scale of the failure and at the magnitude of the collapse of state systems.
And, to our pride, it was also a morning also of inspiring mobilization, as the young men and women of Israeli society put themselves forward both individually and collectively for brotherhood, for the struggle for freedom, for defense.

On responsibility and evading responsibility

I know there are marketing consultants ready to craft narratives to excuse responsibility.
There are politicians who will maneuver the system for their political survival.
There are publicists who will do their professional work.
There are think tanks that will produce favorable reports.
There are men of faith who will sing of a revealed messiah, of Israel’s destruction, or of the rebuilding of the Temple.
But none of these can replace the deepest foundation of the Jewish journey: “Responsibility”.

As one who teaches philosophical reflection on the very concept of responsibility, I know that this lesson must be accompanied by insights into shirking responsibility, failure to accept responsibility, and the far-reaching consequences of such avoidance of responsibility.

* The refusal of the Prime Minister of Israel to accept responsibility means denial.
Denial is not usually expressed by outright lies or rejection—it is accomplished by “contextualization”: framing an event as just one part of the story, thereby rendering personal responsibility for the disaster partial, limited. But such reframing of “October Seventh” undermines Israel’s moral standing.

* Failure to assume responsibility teaches the public – directly and indirectly – how to evade responsibility. Yet Israeli society is built on responsibility, on volunteering, on mobilization.
We love our society and honor it for that. Failure to accept responsibility strikes at one of the very foundation of Jewish existence in Israel.

* Without acceptance of responsibility, Israeli society cannot reorganize itself. We must resign the Covenant of Fate, and, we hope, renew the Covenant of Destiny as well, with the understanding that only shared responsibility creates a true covenant.

Last words
These are the days of Elul, the month of mercy and forgiveness, on the threshold of the Days of Awe of the year 5786. Jewish tradition set aside these days as a time for reckoning of the soul.

Our sages taught us that on Rosh Hashanah the human being was created, and on Rosh Hashanah we all pass before Him in judgment –  כבני מרון- “as sheep in a flock.”

Israeli culture has taught us that these Days of Awe are for national and social reckoning.
We all long to turn to introspection and acts of repair, but we are also commanded to grant time and space for the tradition of repentance of these holy days.

You were Prime Minister on “October Seventh” and it was on your watch that it occurred.
The time has come. Take responsibility, and resign.

With respect and with prayer,
Hanoch