Note to Herzog: Grow a pair

Stand up to Bibi, Bougie! And stand up to Trump! Call the US president a liar… if, of course, he’s lying

Donald Trump’s predecessor hosts Israeli President Isaac Herzog at the White House on November 12, 2024. (The Israeli President’s Residence)

Isaac Herzog could enter a roomful of strangers entirely unnoticed, announce that world peace had broken out, and then leave, equally unnoticed. Everyone would lean in and say to one another, Huh? What’d he say? Who is that guy? And where’d he go?

Maybe it’s because he’s so mild mannered and physically unimposing. His nasal and even whiney voice cannot be called impressive or memorable. Even his nickname, Bougie (pronounced boo-zhee, with the accent on the first syllable and a soft g, as in rouge), is pretty… well, meh.

As Israel’s president, Herzog’s powers are barely more than ceremonial. But the job is supposed to confer upon him a statesman-like stature, a level of eminence, importance and gravitas that can soothe a frightened populace or scare the bejesus out of a chaotic and dangerous government.

Yet he is, in a word, a milquetoast, the perfect punching bag for bullies like Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump. He is supposed to be the adult in the room but he vaporizes when he’s needed most. Like right now.

I think sinus surgery could go a long way. But really, Bougie, you need to grow a pair.

HERZOG SEEMS TO have forgotten that one of his predecessors, the similarly mild-mannered Yitzhak Navon, once actually raised his voice, if only figuratively. He threatened to resign unless prime minister Menachem Begin’s government established a full state commission of inquiry into Israel’s role in the September 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre.

It was Lebanese Christian militiamen who slaughtered perhaps 3,500 residents of the two predominantly Palestinian neighborhoods of Beirut. Yet Israeli troops controlled most of the city following a June IDF invasion of Lebanon that had been aimed at ousting the PLO, and the matter at hand was whether they could have prevented or at least mitigated the carnage at Sabra and Shatila.

“Goyim kill goyim and they come to hang the Jews,” an obstinate Begin is reported to have told his cabinet. But it was Navon’s threat that is said to have convinced the prime minister to relent, and the findings of the Kahan Commission led to the eventual resignation of defense minister Ariel Sharon.

Why is this relevant? Because for well over two years now, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been blocking the establishment of a similar inquiry into how, on October 7, 2023, Hamas came to invade southern Israel, slaughter hundreds and then withdraw to the Gaza Strip with more than 250 hostages. And more precisely, whether the policies of Netanyahu’s government contributed to Hamas’s ability to do this.

So the real question is why hasn’t Herzog read Netanyahu the riot act?

Opinion polls show that a super-majority of Israelis want a state commission of inquiry. Several times, Herzog has expressed support. No threats. No demands. No raised voices. No deadlines. Just… support.

IF I WANTED TO, BOUGIE, I could channel my inner conspiracy theorist and suggest that you fear the prime minister will spill the beans on an alleged deal that paved your way to the President’s Residence. Something about a pardon and a promise should there be a conviction in Netanyahu’s ongoing corruption trial.

But forget about that, because when I urge you to grow a pair, it’s not to stand up to Netanyahu. Not this time. Today I’m referring to the Thursday phone conversation between US President Donald Trump and journalist Barak Ravid, who says Trump believes a pardon would free the embattled prime minister to better conduct his part in the conflict with Iran.

“Every day I talk to Bibi about the war,” the US leader reportedly told Ravid. “I want him to focus on the war and not on the fucking court case.”

According to the Channel 12 and Axios journalist, Trump claimed Herzog promised him five separate times over the past year that he would grant Netanyahu a pardon. He called the Israeli president “a disgrace” and declared him persona non grata in Washington.

“Tell him I am exposing him,” Trump reportedly said. “[Herzog] better damn well give him the pardon right now – and stop using it as leverage for his own political career.”

So now’s the time, Bougie. Stand up to Trump! It’s not enough for your office to issue a mealy-mouthed rebuttal saying merely that “when we are all mobilized” for war, you are “not dealing with the issue of a pardon for Prime Minister Netanyahu.”

Yeah, I know. The statement went on to remind us all that “Israel is a sovereign state governed by the rule of law.” Yada, yada, yada.

But five separate times? Call him out, Bougie! Call Trump a liar… if, of course, he’s lying.

If he’s not and there indeed is that little matter of “leverage,” you have some explaining to do. To us.