Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his supporters purported to classify him as a modern-day Winston Churchill of sorts, but history has already cemented his legacy as the Israeli Neville Chamberlain. Like the British prime minister who deluded himself and his nation by concluding the Munich accord, Netanyahu surrendered and led us to where we are now. Netanyahu isn't alone on the stand; together with him are the high-ups of the left-center camp along with most of Israel's defense leadership in the past generation.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
Now, however, Netanyahu has been handed a task that even the original Chamberlain did not have to face – digging us out of the hole that he and his accomplices plunged us into. Chamberlain himself resigned and vacated his post in May 1940, when the Battle of Britain began, but the Britons had Churchill there to lead the epic task that they were facing. Among us, there isn't even a whiff of Churchill in the whole political system; all members of the war cabinet are accomplices in the same conspiracy and spirit that brought on the catastrophe.
The only consolation is that the nation's morale is strong and determined. A clear indication of Chamberlain-ism is the bumbling that surrounds the ground operation, already accompanied by a campaign of sorts that aims to nibble away at the self-evident conclusion about the need to rip Hamas out. Thus we got the conspicuous attention to General Yitzhak Brik's views, thus Netanyahu initiated President Joe Biden's visit, and thus the enemy's trickle of extortionary deals was requited. Thus the ostensible leak, engineered by the most scandalous member of the war cabinet – Aryeh Deri – about the non-performance of the plans to topple Hamas.
There's no doubt that, given its extreme unpreparedness, the system took two weeks or so to get itself organized: to draw up new offensive plans, to issue a set of orders, and to train and equip the units that have been downsized and degraded for years due to the "misconception." And yes, the extensive destruction that the Air Force has wrought thus far matters, too. From now on, however, every day that passes works to our disadvantage. It shatters our international legitimacy and places an enormous burden on our society and economy. With so many people displaced and inducted, it is eroding the public's resolve to go the whole nine yards.
The battle against the tunnels won't be simple; that's for sure. But we have a mighty advantage in military strength, resources, and also the troops' fighting spirit and quality. History abounds with examples of more difficult challenges that were surmounted due to enterprise and the practice of war. Churchill had no ready-made answers to the German blitzkrieg; the IDF at the start of the War of Independence had neither the plans nor the means to contend with the Arab invasion. Overall, the warnings that we've been hearing are reminiscent of the scare campaign that accompanied the run-up to Operation Defensive Shield in 2002, when we were cautioned about the traps awaiting us within the refugee camps – not to speak of the opposition to crossing the Suez Canal in 1973.
We'll know within a few days whether the current leadership will find the ability to start coping with the dramatic situation, namely, if it will give the order to move forward. If not, the senior members of the coalition will have to take the reins from the sole hands of Benjamin Netanyahu. It will have to set up a war team, perhaps including Gallant, Dichter, Edelstein, Kisch, and Barkat; possibly adding people who sized things up correctly, such as Avigdor Liberman and Gideon Saar; and maybe reinforced from outside the Knesset – all of which to lead in a Churchillian spirit, without hesitancy and impotence à la Chamberlain and his crew.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
