Bennett Wants Better Messaging. The Message Is the Problem
Naftali Bennett blames Israel’s collapsing support in the US on bad PR. He calls Israel a “leper state,” faults Smotrich and Ben Gvir for torching alliances, and calls for rebranding. His barb hits: “If Netanyahu’s propaganda machine fought external threats with half the speed and talent it uses against political rivals, we’d be thriving.”
But the line deflects. The crisis isn’t perception. It’s policy.
Gaza’s humanitarian collapse is no longer theoretical. COGAT, the IDF’s civilian coordination wing, has reported convoys looted by civilians—not Hamas. Nearly every truck carrying food is intercepted before arrival. Aid workers say confidence can only be restored by flooding Gaza with supplies that reduce street value and scarcity-driven chaos.
Israel claims aid restrictions prevent diversion. But the riskiest channel is airdrops, which amount to just eight trucks’ worth per day and are most vulnerable to Hamas. Ground aid enters through four crossings, yet almost all flows through Zikim and Kerem Shalom. Even after Israel allowed UN deliveries to resume in late May, military approvals stalled movement. Between May 21 and July 26, aid barely trickled in. Families survived on stockpiles from the cease-fire.
Since March, Israel has seized about 70 percent of Gaza, squeezing civilians into a narrow strip. Aid trucks cross a militarized buffer zone, and when convoys exit Israeli-held territory, crowds swarm—often drawing fire from soldiers. In the north, Palestinians enter combat zones hoping to intercept food, despite clear warnings from the IDF and WFP.
GHF, the Israeli- and US-backed aid mechanism, operates four distribution points. Three are in Israeli-controlled southern areas. Civilians must travel on foot or donkey cart through militarized terrain. These gatherings have repeatedly come under fire when deemed threatening.
Militarily, the IDF relied on airstrikes to shield ground forces. Hamas embedded its infrastructure in civilian areas. Israel responded by leveling neighborhoods. The result is permanent displacement. Roughly 20,000 Hamas fighters remain underground. Most aren’t engaging. A few fight sporadically. But there’s no full-scale resistance.
Still, Bennett frames the crisis as messaging. He warns that radical ministers’ rhetoric could provoke backlash against soldiers abroad. That danger is real. But it isn’t what’s killing troops in Gaza. Keeping forces deployed without progress or mission is what raises the risk. The IDF Chief of Staff has warned that flattening Gaza jeopardizes hostages and undermines their rescue.
Imagine your child, spouse, or parent held in Gaza. Would you believe everything is being done to bring them home? What if you were the hostage? You’d want to believe that the state created to protect Jewish life would move heaven and earth. Instead, you watch the war grow wider, priorities shift, and your rescue fade.
Israel was built to safeguard Jewish dignity and life. That mission is faltering.
Criticism of Israel is fraught. Antisemitism distorts reality. The UN singles Israel out. Media scrutiny is often disproportionate. Bias exists. But not all criticism is distortion. Some reflects fact.
So no, Mr. Bennett. Israel doesn’t need sharper PR. It needs to decide what kind of state it wants to be. Right now, its actions violate the mission it claims to serve. Starving civilians doesn’t protect Jews. Flattening neighborhoods doesn’t defeat terror. Leaving soldiers in harm’s way to sustain political theater doesn’t uphold national security. It undermines it.
