Government coalition in shock and trauma

The Israeli government bears sole responsibility not only for the greatest failure in the history of the State of Israel, but also for everything that is to come.

By Aviel Schneider | | Topics: Gaza, Hamas
Ministers and lawmakers at a special plenary session to introduce the new emergency government in the the Knesset, on October 12, 2023. Photo: Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90
Ministers and lawmakers at a special plenary session to introduce the new emergency government in the the Knesset, on October 12, 2023. Photo: Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90

Four days into the war and the governing coalition was still silent. Not only that, all offices and authorities that were supposed to explain reality to Israeli society in front of the camera and provide the necessary services such as logistics, military, security, psychological assistance and much more were as if swallowed up in the first days of the war. As if everyone had left the country and was in shock.

No one addressed the people of Israel directly to reassure them in the first few days. No one went into the news studios to explain, to express sympathy, to take responsibility, to answer questions. Zero. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was kind enough to release a short video promising that we would win. The next day he went on air for a brief statement and that was it.

Israelis watch a statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the current war on October 9, 2023. Photo: Noam Revkin Fenton/FLASH90

No one spoke to the public, no one spoke to the injured, no one met with the survivors and families. Entire families were kidnapped and massacred and government officials were nowhere to be seen. Paralyzed and shocked. Then they woke up. And when they woke up, what did they do? They turned to the media.

The first to address the world and the media was former Israeli Information Minister Galit Distel-Atbaryan. The one who was given a superfluous ministry tailored to the size of her ego and who complained ever since she took office.

Superfluous: The resigned minister Galit Distel-Atbaryan. Photo: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90

I’m sorry, but this minister made a fool of herself on camera. She knew exactly who was responsible for the strategic failure of her governing coalition. Danny Kushmaro, the 55-year-old journalist, news anchor and TV presenter from N12. And why? Kushmaro dared to say that there were problems in the Israeli Air Force and that the fighter pilots who opposed judicial reform wanted to refuse their voluntary reserve service. Kushmaro is responsible for the fiasco in the south, not her government, not Benjamin Netanyahu.

And who was the first minister to come to the south to talk to residents, apart from Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant, who met with military units in the south? Israel’s Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir. Ben-Gvir only arrived in Sderot on Wednesday afternoon. Four days after the attack in the south and the rocket attacks, a minister made his way to the south. None of the ministers had the courage to go into the firing zone. And what is Minister Ben-Gvir doing in Sderot? He accuses the media of spreading fake news.

And when someone pointed out to Ben-Gvir that this made no sense, he began shouting instead of expressing compassion and mercy or reaching out to the concerned residents and traumatized citizens. He repeatedly shouted at anyone who criticized him on camera. Sderot is a stronghold of right-wing Likud voters.

The first two ministers to appear on camera three days ago and publicly apologize for the failures in the south were Yoav Kisch and Tzachi HaNegbi. “We are responsible for the situation in the country. All of us engaged in nonsense,” Education Minister Kisch said in an interview with Ynet. He is the first minister in his government coalition to publicly take responsibility after the surprise attack. “No one will shirk responsibility. It happened under our government and we will take responsibility. The families can say whatever they want, I promise them one thing: Hamas will no longer exist after the war.” National Security Council Chairman and Minister Tzachi HaNegbi also admitted that he was wrong in his assessment that the terrorist organization in Gaza was deterred. Everyone else is silent.

Tzachi Hanegbi, head of the national security council, speaks to the media at the Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv on October 14, 2023. Photo by Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90

The Israeli government bears sole responsibility not only for the greatest failure in the history of the State of Israel, but also for everything that is to come. Israel’s largest and most right-wing ruling coalition has fallen into a state of shock, and it was clear in the media. The ministers simply weren’t there. The only people responsible were the citizens themselves; it was the people who looked after themselves in the first hours of the struggle and in the first days of the war. Only the Israeli army seemed to pull itself together in those early days. It took the government much longer. The people are not only angry with their government, but with the entire Israeli parliament. I hear again and again from all sides of Israeli society that after war and victory, the entire political leadership, the Knesset with all its 120 members, must be replaced.

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2 responses to “Government coalition in shock and trauma”

  1. Masami Cobley says:
    October 16, 2023 at 8:00 pm

    I don’t see the silence of the government for the first few days after the attack as you do. It would have been too careless and irresponsible for any leaders to speak publicly without grasping what exactly happened, how and why they happened first. You say, “the government bears sole responsibility for the greatest failure”, but who have been making huge contributions to the destruction and the dysfunctions of the government and the security forces over the last ten months or more? Too many people have been obsessed with how to get rid of Netanyahu – throwing endlessly their personal hatred, jealousy and anger at him. Even the Supreme Court justices have been enjoying a rare opportunity towards incapacitating him.

  2. Robert's World says:
    October 17, 2023 at 2:33 am

    I, too, didn’t see silence as a problem in the first few days. It could be interpreted in so many ways, including by the Hamas.

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