Not in my name

“Thank you Biden” A banner held high at a demonstration in Jerusalem demanding the immediate return of the hostages and the resignation of the current government. Courtesy

PM Netanyahu is correct. Absolute victory is imperative. Unfortunately, he and I hold diametrically opposed views as to what that means.

When PM Benjammin Netanyahu addresses the joint session of the United States Congress on Wednesday, he may well state, as he is wont to do on such occasions, that he is speaking in the name of the entire Jewish people. Don’t believe him. Today it is doubtful that he can even make a reasonable case for speaking on behalf of the citizens of Israel. A July poll commissioned by the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) found that barely a quarter of all Israelis have any degree of confidence in their prime minister, while a poll conducted just a week ago on behalf of Israel’s N12 news outlet revealed that 72% of those he was elected to represent believe he should resign.

I am in good company, then, in stating loudly and clearly that what you hear Netanyahu saying on Capitol Hill on July 24 he will not be saying in my name. Unless, against all odds, he can bring himself to utter the following. It’s an impossibility of course, but here are some thoughts on the speech he should be making. It should begin like this:

“Dear President Biden, Vice President Harris, the honorable speaker of the house Mike Johnson, esteemed members of Congress, and citizens of the great United States of America, I have come here today primarily to say thank you. Thank you for your embrace. Thank you for having our back. Thank you for demonstrating your steadfast support for Israel not only in words but in deed. The level of armaments you have provided us with since October 7 is unprecedented, and I want to let you know we appreciate that more deeply than words can express. And it is not something we take for granted. I am well aware that there are those among you who have been opposed to their supply, as well as many who don’t fully grasp the threat Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houtis, and Iran pose to our very survival. And to the values of western democracies altogether. But I am here not to admonish, but to explain.”

The prime minister should then speak briefly about Israel’s 2005 withdrawal from Gaza, our unrequited gestures of peace since then, the ideological fundamentalism of Hamas and the Islamic jihad that continue to propel them to seek our total destruction, and the tens of thousands of rockets and ballistic missiles that they and their supporters have fired indiscriminately at our civilian population for two decades in pursuit of that objective. Then, after making his case, he should continue like this.

“But let us not get caught up in deconstructing conflicting narratives of what transpired in the past. Instead, let us focus on taking a constructive approach to resolving the conflict in the future, a future which begins today. In saying that, I again want to thank you. Thank you for your tough love.  Your concerns – more bluntly, your criticism – as to how we are conducting this war has brought me to rethink a number of my own positions.

“I have long maintained that this war will not end until we have achieved absolute victory. I still believe that, but what that means for me today is something very different than what it did nine months ago. Allow me, then, to share with you my seven-point agenda for arriving at “the day after” which I have far too long neglected and to which I now vow to devote my energies.

1. Releasing the hostages. First and foremost, my highest priority is the immediate repatriation of all those brutally taken into captivity under my watch by Hamas on October 7 and held there for nearly ten months under the most agonizing conditions, even if that means releasing hundreds of terrorists with blood on their hands who remain committed to our absolute destruction while leaving a crippled Hamas in power.

2. Facilitating the creation of a Palestinian state. That there can be a military solution to the war with our neighbors is an illusion. Anything approximating peace can only come about if we are able to foster a political resolution to the conflict, which can only mean the establishment of a Palestinian state. Anything less will damn us to an eternity of warfare.

3. Advancing regional cooperation. A major objective of the Hamas invasion of Israel was the disruption of the American-led initiative to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, an achievement that would have added immeasurably to the stabilization of relations and growing cooperation between Israel and the Arab countries of the region that began in earnest with the Abraham Accords. Reviving this process is a strategic aim of the highest order.

4. Creating a truly shared society. The murder and abduction of Israeli Arabs along with Jewish civilians on October 7, and the deaths of Druze soldiers and officers in combat since, have accentuated the injustice of the 2018 legislation defining Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People. It left more than 25 percent of our people who are not Jewish feeling that they were second-class citizens. The repeal of that law is now but one of the many steps that need be taken to promote social cohesion, ensuring that all segments of our population feel they belong to a single shared society.

5. Restoring faith in the country’s leadership. There is no denying that it was under my command that Israel experienced the most devastating catastrophe since its establishment. The country deserves an independent commission of inquiry into why that happened, a commission empowered to effect the removal from office of those it determines to have been responsible for the debacle. I will soon call for new elections as well, allowing the people to decide in whom to put their trust as we embark on a long journey of recovery.

6. Strengthening Israeli Democracy. For months before October 7, those at the highest levels of our nation’s security, economic, and legal establishments warned that my government’s efforts to radically overhaul Israel’s judicial system posed a clear and present danger to our vibrant democracy as well as threatening our resilience and undermining our preparedness to withstand enemy aggression. Clearly their unheeded warnings were correct. Accordingly, I hereby declare that such reforms are no longer on my legislative agenda.

7. Regaining the support of our brethren abroad. We have failed miserably to make the case for Israel among our own people, never mind the world at large. Long before the present war, we were rapidly losing the support of our younger generation and liberal Jews of every age. Now, with the death toll in Gaza headline news, we are hemorrhaging any goodwill that may have remained. It is incumbent upon us, then, to find a way to convey the fundamental legitimacy of the Zionist idea as well as enacting policies that are true to the lofty ideals enshrined in our Declaration of Independence.”

But back to reality. These are not the words you will hear PM Netanyahu speak to Congress. To those of you wish they were, before you give up on us, I urge you to listen more carefully. They are the words of the hundreds of thousands who are out there rallying regularly to expedite the demise of the current government. They are the words of millions more who have lost faith in their prime minister and believe the time has come for him to step down. They are the words, as well, of so many who want to see an Israel emerge from the devastation of October 7 that is worthy of the pain and sacrifice of the victims and heroes of this darkest chapter in the country’s history. And they are the words that must be spoken to effect the return of our hostages. Until he utters them, I repeat, he will not be speaking in my name.