The Achilles' Heel Of Trump?

The recent devastating New York Times investigation into Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to prolong the Gaza war has been reverberating across our community – and for good reason.

Deeply reported from over 100 interviews with officials and scores of documents, war plans and intelligence assessments, it paints a picture of a leader who continually sabotaged and delayed his own negotiators’ efforts to reach a war-ending hostage deal.

Decisions were at times driven “predominantly” by political and personal need instead of military or national necessity, the paper reports, detailing his choice to partner with allies who “sought a long war that would ultimately enable Israel to re-establish Jewish settlements in Gaza.”

For those of us who have been fighting alongside hostage families, who are horrified with the scale of suffering in Gaza, this is an infuriating and painful read – even if it only confirms what has been clear to many of us for far too long.

Hamas has slow-walked and obstructed negotiations at key moments – that much is clear – but the details of Netanyahu’s ongoing decisions to abandon commitments, shift the goalposts, undermine negotiators and ignore military advice are also truly shocking.

Among the revelations:

• In April 2024, Netanyahu scuttled internal hostage deal planning after Bezalel Smotrich threatened to “finish” his government.
• In July 2024, as negotiators expected to finalize a ceasefire deal, he blindsided the room with new demands designed to tank progress, and reversals of prior commitments.
• In August 2024, his team selectively leaked intelligence to a German newspaper in an effort to undermine hostage family protests, accusing them of “doing Hamas’ bidding.”

Perhaps equally as frustrating is reporting that senior officials in Washington “began to roll their eyes” at Netanyahu’s promises to end the war soon – even as the administration publicly defended his government.

The reporting shows that the administration did achieve important gains – including on humanitarian aid – but it seems clear that US pressure was one of the only means of changing Netanyahu’s calculus. “It was clear to them that Netanyahu was looking to drag out the war against the advice of the Americans and the Israeli military high command,” the paper reports.

I only wish officials had pushed harder and further.

. . .

Still, I’m hopeful that this powerful account brings things into sharper relief for a greater number of folks in our community and in Congress.

As the report also makes clear, Netanyahu’s leadership has been catastrophic not just for the millions in Gaza suffering through unfathomable horrors – but for Israel itself and many Israelis.

Hostage families have had their anguish compounded by their own leaders. Young Israelis have been pushed into the front lines of an ideological war.

The country squandered international goodwill in the wake of October 7 and is now being driven toward pariah status. The homeland of the Jewish people is increasingly at odds with diaspora Jews whose connection to Israel is being strained by its leadership’s behavior.

The situation today is a tragedy for Palestinians and Israelis alike, and our movement’s work to press for stronger, more clear-eyed US leadership has never been more important.

If this New York Times report makes anything clear, it is that being “pro-Israel” cannot mean blind support for leaders like Netanyahu.

J Street still believes that Israel can be the homeland envisioned by its founders – safe and secure not just for the Jewish people but for all who live there and for our Jewish values. It can be a country driven by hope and pragmatism to secure a peaceful, stable place in the region and the world – not by the narrow personal and political interests of its right-wing leadership.