The first Israel Prize in Citizen Heroism should go to Benjamin Netanyahu

Last week the government bravely decided to no longer award the Israel Prize in stodgy academic disciplines like math, sciences, and humanities, and instead to award the only thing that really matters nowadays, Citizen Heroism. This decision is particularly brave this year when so many academics have participated in – and even lectured publicly at – anti-government demonstrations. Public dissent only weakens the absolute unity necessary for a victorious democracy like our own.

Stodgy academics – and here I include myself – spend far too much time engaged in peer review, tenure review, review of writings for awards, committee reviews, and ensuring that their research adheres to international standards. It is thus no wonder that they cannot understand the new notions of accountability. The new review is best done on Twitter or TikTok, and what right do people from other countries have to tell us how best to manage the sciences?

As a champion of the new standard of accountability and as a pillar of absolute national unity, Benjamin Netanyahu is the most fitting candidate to receive the Israel Prize in Citizen Heroism. I could, of course, wax on and on about his numerous acts of heroism, but I could not do so better than he did in Bibi: My Story (Simon and Schuster, 2022). This book not only details heroic actions, but even heroic dispositions. Thus, for example, in Chapter 12, Mr. Netanyahu heroically explains that Golda Meir was wrong to ignore the warning of “an Egyptian Mossad agent … that a surprise attack was imminent” and explains how much better it would have been to make a preemptive strike.

This disposition turned to action, as we learn in Chapter 53, when in 2014 Mr. Netanyahu learned of Hamas terror tunnels from Gaza and Hamas plans “to enter kindergartens and schools, murder Israelis and whisk dozens of hostages to Gaza back through the tunnels.” Mr. Netanyahu boldly ordered a preemptive land incursion, even against the wishes of US President Barack Obama and other members of the international community. Subsequently, he built a security fence – even against the recommendation of the IDF command – and, as he notes there as well,

In the 2021 Gaza operation, the underground barrier, equipped with sophisticated sensors, worked perfectly. Not a single attack tunnel crossed into Israel.
We had neutralized the tunnel threat.

These are but a few of the many heroic dispositions and acts for which Mr. Netanyahu should be recognized.

While many would prefer that the award be given to Alexei Stakhanov or Boxer the Horse, I believe their recognition should be postponed to later years. True heroism lies in recognizing that sometimes the country’s leader is the true hero. After all, the first winner of the “Hero of Socialist Labour” award was Joseph Stalin in 1939. Erez Tadmor and Tucker Carlson have both reminded us recently of the importance of the Russian example for the history of absolutely victorious democracies. And we do want absolute victory. Don’t we, Mr. Navalny?