An Open Letter to Israel’s Leadership

Official and non-Official

To the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, All other Government Ministers, Leader of the Parliamentary opposition Yair Lapid, unofficial but actual Leader of the opposition, Ehud Barak, All other opposition leaders: Benjamin Gantz, Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the Meretz-Labor Democrat Party Yair Golan.

To IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, all other members of the General Staff, Shaback head Ronen Bar, Head of the Mossad David Barnea.

To the Legal Advisor to the government, the chief prosecutor, the Supreme Court’s senior justices.

To all ex-Prime Ministers, ex-generals, ex-heads and senior operatives of the Shaback and Mossad, who have made your voices known on the airwaves over the past years and despite your being proven wrong time again, continue to talk.

We appreciate all that you have done for the State of Israel and the Jewish people but the time has come for you all to go. You are the ones who brought us to October 7, 2023 and you are the ones who have brought us to the non-victory that is November 2024. You are the ones who have left the hostages in Gaza and left Hezbollah and Hamas still in power.

Your greatest sin though, as bad as the debacle of October 7 was and the stalemate that Nobember 2024 is, is not following the people of Israel in their unity of mission and action. 350,000 Israelis of all ages came from all over the country, all over the world, to their bases to not only volunteer but to demand that they be allowed to defend their country, their people, their family. Even after understanding not only the nature of the failure but the nature of the incompetence that led to October 7 and even though you all stayed in your positions, these 350,000 put themselves in danger. And not only them, but their wives, husbands, children, grandparents, cousins, friends and neighbors united to help. The people volunteered with the troubled farms and with those who were evacuated due to your incompetence.

Even though we all understood that while the war was going on, the Ehud Barak’s of the country were plotting the downfall of the government, the Benjamin Netanyahu’s were figuring out how to stay in power, the Herzi Halevi’s were trying to cover up their crimes and to double down on their own power - we all got together and made sacrifices that you don’t seem to understand.

The arrogance of the leadership and the fact that they all remain in their positions has become intolerable. It is hard to think of another country at any time in their history where a preventable disaster of the scope of October 7 went by without there being one person of honor amongst you. None. No one has been able to admit that they were wrong and then do the right thing. Not those in official positions of power and not those in unofficial positions of power. No one has had the guts to say out loud that we all need to take a step back and win this war.

We have all had it. On the left, on the right and in the center we have had it with decades of ignoring our problems because the solutions were either “good for Bibi” or “bad for Bibi”. Do you realize that you have encouraged extremism and encouraged destructive policies for one reason and one reason only? Good for Bibi or Bad for Bibi. This has been the only yardstick for any reform or any policy in any area and any ministry. The Shaback is trampling the civil rights of those who act in accordance with Bibi and the Supreme Court hears no evil and sees no evil. There have not been detailed policy discussions in this country in over a decade. And it all blew up in our face on October 7 and … shock of shocks, it continues to this day. This is true of those who want to protect Netanyahu at all costs and those who will not be satisfied with anything less than the humiliation and jailing of Benjamin Netanyahu. No one can discuss anything on television news or write in the newspapers without first thinking if what they are saying is good or bad for Bibi. The country, its soldiers and its citizens be damned.

Politicians and media personalities, ex-generals and other public figures have no problem contradicting themselves, policy-wise, as long as the current statement is good or bad for Bibi.

Enough.

Hundreds of thousands of families in Israel are dedicated to returning the hostages, winning the war, destroying both Hamas and Hezbollah and getting the country back on track. You are all taking advantage of both the reservists and the regular army who have been fighting like none of you fought before. You don’t seem to care about them or their families, in spite of all your blather about “while our soldiers are fighting and dying, you are ….. “ - fill in the blank – defending or attacking Bibi. Families are making sacrifices while you are jockeying for political position in the next election, not understanding that we, the people, don’t care what you say anymore. We are immune to your faux concern for our wellbeing, and we have had it with your self-righteousness.

This problem can be solved with the following actions.

1. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu needs to call elections within 6 months and announce that he is not running again.

2. Unofficial head of the opposition, former PM Ehud Barak needs to call off his attack dogs because his real target is not Bibi but rather Bibi’s voters. He must stop demonizing everyone who thinks other than he and his friends do.

3. Yair Lapid has shown over the past year that he is not capable of anything other than yes-Bibi/no Bibi and needs to either disband his party or resign and let others try their hand. His refusal to join a national unity government on October 8 says enough about him.

4. Benny Gantz must also take responsibility for the fact that he appointed the worst Head of the IDF General Staff in its history, his responsibility for stripping the IDF of much of its power and announce he too, will not run for PM.

5. The Defense Minister, Yisrael Katz needs to fire Herzi Halevi and start a reform of the army. A caretaker Chief of Staff needs to be put in place for two years and he is to be replaced by one of the current Division (Ugda) commanders who have fought in this war and proven their mettle. The promotion to the rank of General for political purposes that has been going on over the last two decades has brought us to a fatal level of mediocrity at the top. And mediocrity does one thing well – it stays in power.

6. Yitzchak Amit, acting President of the Supreme Court must announce he is stepping down and will be replaced by a consensus figure who now sits on the court. The government’s chief legal advisor, Gali Baharav Miara has to resign so as to return confidence in the country’s legal system. Amit and Baharav-Mira are divisive figures in Israel as are Netanyahu and Barak. If you care about the country you must step down. If you don’t care about the country, someone has to fire you. Yariv Levin, the Justice Minister must initiate a law in the Knesset that will require at least 70 votes to change aspects of the legal system so as to restore confidence in the Knesset. He too, has to resign.

7. To the Haredi leadership, lay and rabbinic, you must understand that the world has changed. You need to become part of this country and not a side show of it. If you care about the Jewish people, then you have to see what everyone else (including much of your constituents) understand all too clearly. If you don’t, then you need to step aside. If you want people to stop demonizing you (an unacceptable thing in its own right) you must stop demonizing the rest of the country – including those who are orthodox, but differently than you. We all know that you political and lay leaders control the rabbis – they don’t control you. Let us admit your motives are not pure.

8. To the Religious Zionist leadership, religious and political, it is time to listen to your people. Times have changed and you have to stop taking for granted what we have built here. Contrary to your beliefs, Simchat Torah 5784 showed that the Third Temple can indeed fall. To the Rabbis, return to your moral and ethical roots and stop talking politics. The Land of Israel is not more important than the people of Isreal and their ability to rule themselves. To the politicians, you are mediocrity par excellence, you don’t have the tools or temperament necessary to lead the country and you need to stop your petty demands and step aside and allow fresh blood into the scene.

9. To the leaders of Israel’s left wing, the time has come to jettison post-Zionism once and for all and to present the country with a working version of left of center Zionism. You like to claim that the country has been stolen from you – well – present a plan for a Zionist future and maybe you can get it back by actually convincing the people of your vision. You need to realize that you have abandoned your past vision and exchanged it for post-modern, post-Zionist pot of lentil soup. You need to get rid of your current leaders who are dividing the country as much as the others.

Finally, there is a tenth thing that all of you need to do and it is based on an ancient Jewish tradition. There was practiced (and still is today in certain circles) something called a “ta’anit dibbur” – a “speaking fast” to translate literally (a nice way of saying what the kids say in a less polite acronym), where people take a vow not to speak for a certain period of time so as not to use their mouths to say evil things. You need to declare a “ta’anit dibbur” for 12 months and let the country calm down and choose new leadership without your destructive participation.

Thank you again for your service to the country. We are willing to let you keep the pensions gathered at our expense and keep the medals and honors. We will even bury you on Mt. Herzl with full honors when the time comes – may you all lead long lives. We look forward to reading your memoirs. But we need you to step out of the way and remain silent for the foreseeable future.

One more thing before I sign off. We saved you. We saved all of you. The disaster came and the people – yes those you look down upon, those not good enough for you, rose to the occasion and saved you from your own arrogance and incompetence. We saved you from the stupidity of your ways as you all swore your allegiance to anyone and everyone except the people of Israel.

Yours,

The (still very much) Angry Demagogue