Reflections on Israeli Leadership and the Strength of the People

In the middle of the night on Saturday, Benjamin Netanyahu posted a tweet blaming the heads of Israel’s military intelligence and Shin Bet security service for failing to anticipate the October 7th attack by Hamas. Though he later apologized, the post reflected the Prime Minister’s continued avoidance of taking responsibility, prioritizing his own political advancement over the needs of the people.

In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi discuss Prime Minister Netanyahu’s leadership failure, the role of criticizing one’s society and leadership even during a moment of crisis, why leaders must take responsibility for what they didn’t prevent, and the power of Israeli civil society taking up the slack in this leadership vacuum.

Mentioned in this episode:

• The Eglah Arufah (ritual for an unsolved murder): Deuteronomy 21:1-4.
• Reference to this ritual in the Kahan Report, 1985.

JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS