This war is unlike anything Israelis have known, and so is Netanyahu’s betrayal
Benjamin Netanyahu leads a coalition of cowards, criminals and crazies who are not serving the people, writes Gary Cohen, a filmmaker based in Israel. As more protests are planned in Tel Aviv, he explains why many Israelis no longer trust their government’s motives or decisions
Last Sunday, Israel stopped. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum led a nationwide strike and mass protests that drew more than 1 million people across the country – 500,000 rallied at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv alone. Families of the missing accused the government of abandoning loved ones to politics.
Addressing the rally, Ofir Braslavski, father of Rom, who appeared in a Hamas video, emaciated and desperate, simply stated, “My Rom has no time, the hostages have no time.” The message was simple. Bring them home. End the war. Now!
The families’ desperate pleas are understandable, though not everyone agrees. Other hostage families, along with some of the families of the victims of 7 October, reject the protests and efforts to end the war. They see “total victory” as critical and the only way to return the hostages, even with the risks involved.
I’m not a military expert. I can’t say whether taking Gaza City and occupying all of Gaza is the right or wrong move. I personally trust that the Israel Defense Forces will act in a responsible manner. I have my doubts, however, when it comes to “total victory”, which, according to Benjamin Netanyahu, is just “weeks away” – as it has been for the past 18 months.
Israelis deserve to have a government we can trust to make these tough decisions in our best interests. Regrettably, we don’t have such a government today.
There is no precedent for this war. Not in scale, not in horror, nor in the grotesque failures of those in charge. Many Israelis simply do not trust Netanyahu’s coalition to put the country ahead of its own political survival. Not its motives, its judgement, nor its decisions.
In the immediate aftermath of 7 October, the government of “Mr Security” went awol. Nowhere to be found, they weren’t hiding from advancing terrorists but from their own public. As if the weight of the moment was simply too much, they vanished.
In its darkest hour, the country felt rudderless, leaderless.
To date, there has been no meaningful acceptance of responsibility. Not one minister has stated clearly, this happened on our watch.
However, ordinary Israelis rose to the occasion. On the day of the Hamas massacre, brave individuals raced south to fight, to rescue, to help in any way they could. Reservists showed up in record numbers. In the days that followed, ordinary Israelis organised evacuations, provided shelter, fed soldiers, cared for survivors, handled logistics, even identified victims. They held the country together with pure grit.
When government ministers finally resurfaced, it was shameless. No humility. No change. Just the same self-serving blame game. Their priority from the outset, political survival.
Israelis have done everything asked of them, and more. Regulars and reservists have been sent to the battlefield again and again, to the point of exhaustion. Families, relationships, businesses, and entire communities have unrelentingly accepted the punishing grind of this seemingly endless war.
Hostage families have shown remarkable strength and resilience, as their loved ones rot in Hamas tunnels. Bereaved parents, survivors, displaced communities, people from every corner of Israeli society, Jews and non-Jews alike, have carried the nation on their backs.
And yet, their government betrays them. Despite the IDF stating it was short of 20,000 troops, the coalition is now pushing a bill to exempt tens of thousands of perfectly healthy Ultra-Orthodox men from military service, purely to placate religious parties and keep the coalition afloat. It’s a national disgrace, a knife in the back of those already risking everything to defend the country.
Hostage families understand that, for this government, their loved ones are no longer the priority. Their return is no longer the primary war objective, despite Netanyahu’s protestations.
So what is driving the decision-making today that has left the world, and many Israelis, aghast? The extremists in the government, led by Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, demand total conquest and resettlement. For them, the hostages are an inconvenience. They don’t need them back if it means ending the war. Netanyahu, ever the political contortionist, complies. So long as he keeps his coalition intact, the cost is immaterial. He has already sold his soul, and that of the country’s.
Israel must be guided by its own security interests, not international pressure or approval. However, as Netanyahu panders to extremists, he risks turning successes and sacrifice into diplomatic failure and international isolation. Netanyahu appears detached from reality. He talks of total victory but fails to define it. He refuses to accept responsibility for the greatest security failure in Israel’s history, and yet claims credit for every military success since.
These are the accomplishments of the IDF and security services; institutions whose chiefs have acknowledged their failures leading to 7 October, accepted responsibility, promised reform, and pledged to resign. Heads of the IDF and Shin Bet, the security agency, have already gone.
Netanyahu cannot have it both ways. If he takes the credit when things go right, then he must also take the heat for the failures. And there were catastrophic failures that led to this war. But as always, Netanyahu has a plan. A campaign to eliminate dissent and distance himself from the debacle of 7 October.
Before the war, defence minister Yoav Gallant warned “judicial reform” was harming security. Only public pressure prevented Netanyahu from firing him. Gallant then opposed exemptions for the Ultra-Orthodox, especially during a war. Netanyahu removed him, replacing him with an inept, blustering sycophant.
Tony Soprano could have learnt a thing or two from Netanyahu. Power at all costs. Be ruthless. Punish dissent. Reward obedience. Power over principles. Politics over people.
Chief of staff Herzi Halevi also resisted the exemption law, and paid with his job. Shin Bet director Ronen Bar refused to fall in line. At the time, Bar was also investigating Netanyahu’s inner circle over illegal payments from Qatar. Bar didn’t survive the purge. The investigation into Netanyahu’s advisers continues.
Yuli Edelstein, chair of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, stubbornly refused to back the draft-dodging bill. Netanyahu replaced him with a loyalist stooge, tasked with ramming the law through the committee.
When you gift the oversight of the police to a far-right extremist with multiple criminal convictions, like Ben-Gvir, don’t be surprised when anarchy ensues. Crime is up. Trust is down. The force is being politicised and purged of anyone who dares question authority or act with integrity. The entire country is less safe.
Extremist settlers run riot in Judea and Samaria, even attacking IDF and police, a gross assault on law and order. Yet, security services are blocked from acting. Incredibly, as war rages, while around 50 hostages still languish in Gaza, this government presses ahead with its judicial coup.
It seeks to undermine the very pillars of Israeli democracy: the courts, the police, the free press. Eroding every safeguard, every limit, every check on their power.
It’s a government of criminals and crazies. A coalition of grifters, zealots, cowards, and sycophants. It’s not serving the country. It’s not serving the people. It’s feeding off of them.
This war is unlike any we have known. So is the betrayal. It’s a betrayal of Zionism, of Judaism, of everything Israel represents, and the incredible achievements of the past 77 years. Israelis faced 7 October and its aftermath with incredible bravery, resilience, and determination. I would love to add unity. But as it publicly promotes unity, to its shame, our government has worked tirelessly to divide and rule.
One million Israelis cried out for leadership, pleading with our government to put the country and the people first. Hostages languish in Hamas dungeons. Soldiers continue to be called up to fight and die. Families are fraught. Israelis struggle with a collective trauma that will last generations.
Yet still this government plays politics, as it cowers, connives, and desperately clings to power.
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