Opinion The closer you look, the more Netanyahu resembles Trump
After an announcement of a new phase in the Gaza military action (about which many Israelis have mixed emotions), Netanyahu declared at roughly 1 a.m. on Sunday, “Contrary to the false claims: Under no circumstances and at no stage was Prime Minister Netanyahu warned of Hamas’s war intentions.” He added, “On the contrary, all the security officials, including the head of military intelligence and the head of the Shin Bet, assessed that Hamas had been deterred and was looking for a settlement. This assessment was submitted again and again to the prime minister and the cabinet by all the security forces and intelligence community, up until the outbreak of the war.”
In saying so, Netanyahu is both crediting Hamas with the element of surprise and daring supporters to remain mum in the face of his self-serving comment. This was very much akin to four-times indicted former president Donald Trump’s declaration that Hezbollah was “very smart.”
The reaction was fierce and immediate. Benny Gantz, the leader of a major opposition party who agreed to be part of a special war cabinet, denounced the tweet. “On this morning in particular, I want to support and strengthen all the security forces and [Israel Defense Forces] soldiers, including the IDF chief of staff, the head of military intelligence, the head of the Shin Bet,” Gantz added early Sunday. “When we are at war, leadership must display responsibility, make the correct decisions and strengthen the forces in a way that they will understand what we demand from them …. [T]he prime minister must retract his statement.”
Likewise, “Netanyahu crossed a red line tonight,” said opposition leader Yair Lapid. “While IDF soldiers and officers are fighting bravely against Hamas and Hezbollah, [the PM] is trying to blame them, instead of supporting them. The efforts to evade responsibility and place blame on the security establishment weakens the IDF while it is fighting Israel’s enemies.”
Former intelligence and military leaders also weighed in. And, for a brief moment, it seemed that Netanyahu might be at risk of losing power during the war, as some foreign policy critics have urged.
Utterly cornered, Netanyahu did something he rarely does: He apologized. “Facing a barrage of criticism, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deleted a controversial social media post on Sunday in which he blamed the defense and intelligence establishment for giving him faulty assessments before the deadly Hamas attack on Oct. 7,” Haaretz reported. “The prime minister then published a new tweet. ‘I was wrong,’ he wrote, adding that 'the things I said following the press conference should not have been said, and I apologize for that. I fully support the heads of [Israel’s] security services.”
He did not, however, take full responsibility for the calamity.
Shortly after Netanyahu took down his tweet, I received an email from a trusted Knesset source: “Netanyahu’s tweet last night as a new low point. When you think it can’t get worse … it does.”
Boy, did that sound familiar to anyone who has witnessed Trump’s career. Just when you think Trump cannot do more damage to undermine democracy, debase political language, sow violence and enable racism, he, too, hits new lows.
The controversy of the Israeli prime minister’s tweet reminds us how much Netanyahu resembles Trump. These are men who continually insist only they speak for the country, only they can shield it from harm. They dehumanize and demonize any opposition and cannot display a modicum of empathy. And when their own incompetence leads to avoidable deaths (e.g., a Hamas attack, a raging pandemic), they deflect and cast blame elsewhere. Impulsive, afraid of humiliation and tone-deaf, they never learn their lesson, as Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) incredulously claimed Trump would do after his first impeachment. They never improve; they only get worse.
“Netanyahu displays the classic strongman attributes of prioritizing self-preservation,” historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat told me. “He was laser-focused on ‘judicial reform’ to the detriment of national security, and he allied with extremists such as Itamar Ben Gvir who were a destabilizing influence.” She continued, “Add in the strongman syndrome of not listening to experts (from intelligence and military sectors) who warned him of the consequences of his actions and we have another case of toll of autocratic models of leadership.”
These personality traits are not unique to Trump and Netanyahu. A psychology study in Nature journal found:
Given authoritarians’ general willingness to submit to traditional authorities, combined with their intolerance of ambiguity and need for closure, it is perhaps unsurprising that right-wing authoritarianism predicts tolerance for, and susceptibility to, misinformation. Authoritarianism also fosters conspiratorial thinking about politics, especially if the conspiracy supports the status quo. … [T]hose who are high in right-wing authoritarianism will go to great lengths to protect the in-group — including believing the unbelievable and other ‘alternative facts’ propagated by in-group authorities. The implications of right-wing authoritarianism thereby extend beyond out-group perceptions and into areas that impact public health and safety.
Consider another example: Russian President Vladimir Putin. Surrounding himself with flunkies unable to tell him he is wrong, cut off from objective sources of information, convinced of his own infallibility and lacking any empathy, he blundered into a brutal, bloody and unwinnable invasion of Ukraine. The ensuing war is bringing his country massive death, economic ruin, social implosion and international isolation.
Netanyahu’s outburst can serve as a warning to Israelis. Authoritarian figures of his ilk never learn, never reform and never take responsibility. If Israeli society wants to recover and avoid repeated errors perpetrated by strongmen, it must get new leadership — preferably before more damage can be done.
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