21 Shevat 5786
I don't know if the Sages said this somewhere, but if they didn't, they should have...
He who has no shame can never repent.
This is the hallmark of what serves as "leadership" in our days - pompous liars who spend all their time shifting blame to others instead of accepting responsibility and getting about the job of correcting their errors.
Not only do they have no shame about having led the country into catastrophe, they go further and have no shame in denying any blame for it. It is shameful to see, but they don't feel it. Consequently, they see no need to change, and if not stopped, they will lead the nation into even worse circumstances.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Thursday that he repeatedly considered conquering the Gaza Strip in the years leading up to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, only to be blocked time and again by Israel’s security establishment, which warned the move would trigger a long, costly war with little international backing and no viable alternative government to replace Hamas.
In newly released responses to State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman, Netanyahu lays out a sweeping account of internal cabinet and security debates stretching back nearly a decade. The documents paint a portrait of a prime minister who says he consistently pushed for aggressive action against Hamas, and a defense establishment that repeatedly urged restraint.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu turned down 11 chances to kill Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza, months before the terror group’s October 7, 2023, attack, Channel 12 reported Wednesday, citing a senior defense official.
Netanyahu’s office vehemently denied the report, saying the premier was in favor of taking out Sinwar, but “security leadership stopped it.”
Former defense minister Yoav Gallant on Saturday called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “a liar” and accused him of stitching together a false narrative surrounding the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, in order to evade responsibility.
...“Netanyahu’s first priority is himself, then his government, and then the country,” Gallant said, adding that the premier “takes credit for actions after they are completed, if they succeed. If they don’t succeed, it’s someone else’s responsibility.”
Just because Gallant is no better than Netanyahu does not mean he is wrong. It's just so much easier to identify the wrongdoing of others than to admit that we have erred and need to change.
This blame shifting is tragically not unusual or rare. In fact, it was a problem for the very first king of Israel. [Shmuel Aleph, perek 13 and 15] He was more concerned with keeping public approval rather than following the instructions of HKB"H. It was he, who in his failure to destroy Amalek, has brought us to this day.
Now, why did you not hearken to the voice of the Lord, but you flew upon the spoil, and you did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord?"
And Saul said to Samuel, "Yes, I did hearken to the voice of the Lord. I did go on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and I brought Agag, the king of Amalek alive, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
And the people took from the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the ban, to sacrifice to your God in Gilgal."
[First he denied any wrongdoing and then he shifted the blame to the people. When he finally found the courage to admit his wrongdoing, it was already too late.]
And Samuel said, "Has the Lord (as much) desire in burnt offerings and peace-offerings, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than a peace-offering; to hearken (is better) than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim. Since you rejected the word of the Lord, He has rejected you from being a king."
And Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned, for I transgressed the Lord's command, and your words, for I feared the people, and I hearkened to their voice.
And now, forgive now my sin, and return with me, and I shall prostrate myself to the Lord."
And Samuel said to Saul, "I shall not return with you, for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being a king over Israel." (Shmuel Aleph 15.19-26)
May Hashem have mercy on his people and replace this failed leadership with the Son of David HaMelekh!
* * *
It's not just Israeli leaders either. Substance does not matter; only the optics count.
A senior Iranian parliamentarian has claimed that U.S. President Donald Trump sent a backchannel message proposing a limited military strike on two targets inside Iran, with Tehran responding only symbolically so the incident could quickly end.
Mahmoud Nabavian, a hardline member of Iran’s Majlis and deputy chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, made the allegation during a television interview on Iranian state TV (Ofogh channel).
According to Nabavian, the message was conveyed through a third-country intermediary shortly before the latest round of indirect U.S.-Iran negotiations. Trump allegedly requested: “Let me strike two locations in Iran, you respond [lightly], and then the story ends.”
______________________________________
