Wednesday, September 17, 2025
For some people, Bibi bashing is their favorite sport. Personally, I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else at the helm at this terrible, dark time for Israel and the Jewish people. When things went down with Iran, I felt relief that it was Bibi, and not Bennett, Lapid, or Gantz in charge.
I won’t deny it. There’s
a lot to pin on Netanyahu. October 7 happened on his watch. And still, I
believe he loves Israel and the Jewish people, and I think it’s eating him
alive that October 7 happened under his leadership. So many deaths, so many
atrocities—it weighs on him. You can see on in his face, in his eyes. He’s had
multiple health issues since the war began: prostate surgery, urinary tract
infection, food poisoning, dehydration. His skin hangs loose on his neck; his
voice at the press conference with Marco Rubio was hoarse and weak. He looks
beleaguered.
Am I asking you to pity him? In a sense, yes. Because pity here is another word for mercy. If Bibi is to lead us effectively, we need to get off his back. We need to stand behind him as one people.
Unity as a Jewish Imperative
Unity has always been a
problem for the Jewish people. The Torah itself tells us that Israel only
merited receiving the Torah when it “camped as one man with one heart” at Sinai
(Exodus 19:2). Put simply, the unity of Israel (Achdut Yisrael) is not a
luxury—but a condition for Jewish survival.
History shows that
whenever we are fractured as a people, our enemies take advantage. The
destruction of the Second Temple is remembered by our sages as the result of sinat
chinam—baseless hatred among Jews. In our own time, the catastrophic
October 7 massacre exposed how internal strife left us distracted and
vulnerable.
Whether it’s bitter
battles over judicial reform or a public letter from 80 so-called Orthodox rabbis accusing Israel of not doing enough for the Gazan people or against the
settlers, division makes us weaker than the sum of our parts.
The reverse is also true. When Jews put aside differences and stand as one, we are far mightier than our numbers suggest. That is why it is so painful to see Jews curse their own prime minister in public, or parents of hostages scream at him on camera. It does not bring their children home. It only strengthens the enemy’s resolve, showing Hamas how valuable the hostages are. The cries against Bibi serve as fodder for the hatred of Jews already spreading unchecked around the globe.
Lawfare in Wartime
Instead of focusing fully
on the war, Bibi is dragged into court four times a week. MK Moshe Saada calls
this “utterly absurd,”
a witch hunt that robs the prime minister of his most precious resource: time.
Saada asks the judges to look at his children, fighting on the front lines for
350 days, and understand that this case must wait until the war is won.
I personally hate that
Bibi is dragged into court four times a week. I don’t want him futzing around
in court over bogus, politically motivated charges. I want him figuring out the
best way to handle this war.
American commentator Mark
Levin, after witnessing the trial in Tel Aviv, said it was “much
worse” than he imagined—“ludicrous,” “unconscionable,” and unlike anything
that would pass for justice in America. He saw what we all know: that this is
lawfare meant to topple Netanyahu, even in the midst of a life-and-death war.
How can Israel fight on
all fronts when we spend so much of our national energy undermining our leader?
A New Year’s Plea for Mercy and Silence
As my late mother (A”H) was
wont to say, “Don’t wash your dirty linen in public.” It was good advice then,
and it’s good advice now. Criticism has its place, but shouting it in the
streets while our soldiers fight and our hostages languish helps no one. It
weakens us all.
I love Israel. I love
living here, every day. But I long for a deeper strain of patriotism in Israeli
society: the instinct to defend the leader of your country reflexively in
wartime, whether you voted for him or not. Bibi is not perfect. But he is ours.
He is also one of us, literally. A Jew, a part of Am Yisrael, the nation
of Israel.
This Rosh Hashanah, God willing, I’ll be right there in shul at sunrise, ready to ask Hashem to guide and fortify our prime minister in battle, and for the people to stand behind him. I will pray, hard, that we learn to put aside our differences and complaints—they only make us weak. Unity is the thing we need, the thing that makes us strong. It’s the thing that makes us unbeatable, unbreakable—and unstoppable as a force for good in the world.
With blessings for a sweet new year! Shana Tova. 🍎🍯
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