A reader’s letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Hi Bibi (Benjamin Netanyahu):
It’s time for you to go.
I know you don’t want to even consider this, but history and current events are squeezing your options down to one — resign, before the Israeli public removes you from office in an election that you know is coming sooner rather than later.
Having known you and your unbridled political ambition for 50 years, I don’t expect you to go quietly. (I remember meeting you in the Knesset dining room when you were a back-bencher and I was the correspondent for The New York Times. Let’s face it, you were desperate for attention.)
Since then, you have headed five —or six — coalition governments and have been prime minister of Israel longer than anyone. Don’t worry: your chapter in the story of modern Israel is secure.
But history is cruel: look at what happened to a predecessor, Prime Minister Golda Meir, in the wake of the 1973 Yom Kippur War when, as today, Israel was caught by surprise by an Arab attack and suffered heavy casualties before finally reclaiming lost territory. A post-war government commission handed down harsh judgments on Meir and Defense Minister Moshe Dayan and within months they were out of office.
That’s your likely fate as well. There will be a post-war commission to study the grievous intelligence and military failures of Oct. 7, the horrifying assault on Gaza and the human catastrophe that has resulted. The judgment on your performance will not be pretty.
I’m sure you think you can salvage your reputation and remain in office and continue to forestall the corruption cases you face in court. After all, you’ve come back before. But, again, history is cruel, and it does repeat itself.
It would be far better for you to dissolve your right-wing coalition, step aside and allow a centrist coalition to take over and negotiate a two-state solution with the Palestinians with ample security guarantees. It won’t be easy, but, as people have been saying for decades, two states living side-by-side is not just the best solution, it’s the only solution.
cc: President Joe Biden