Real Jewish Leadership – It Is “Unrealistic”

By:  Aviad Gadot

Thanks to Channel 14, thanks to Linon Magal and the Patriots team. I think that the interview with Prime Minister Netanyahu did an excellent service in every respect for the success of the war, for the improvement of the media, for the religious camp that was left alone to bear the leadership burden of the campaign, and this interview did an excellent service above all – to the Prime Minister himself.

No. It was not an easy interview for Netanyahu. See that he is ready. There were also difficult questions. In my opinion, not difficult enough, but certainly comprehensive and those that left almost half a million intelligent viewers the ability to understand what is the real answer, what is diplomatic, where are the strengths and where are the weaknesses of what used to be called the War Cabinet and now the War Kitchen, and of the one who heads it.

Netanyahu is a leader on an international level, a statesman who is running a heavy political campaign against Biden’s USA, which stuck a knife in our back during an existential war and in an unforgivable way, and is helped to do so by its metastases here in Israel: petty politicians, failed generals and the media establishment that makes sure to blow wind every day afflicted in the nation.

But Prime Minister Netanyahu is not free from the same errors that allowed the failed senior security establishment to create all the conditions for the horrible failure of the Simchat Torah massacre. We have been crying out for years that the security system needs governance, or rather real reform, and we show every day how the conception, aka the progressive concept that gripped the heads of the IDF and the other security arms – is still with us, still kicking throughout the war. What will defeat the The war is the other spirit, the Jewish spirit expressed by our determined fighters and worthy commanders who are still removed and blocked within the system.

Indeed, the Prime Minister presents a different line, more determined than Defense Minister Galant, who defected to the left a long time ago, more determined than Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, who was supposed to be replaced at the very beginning of the campaign, and their ilk. But the interview with the Patriots proved that this other spirit, the healthy spirit, Menasha is in the camp that is represented in the patriots in a much more clear and sharp way, than in the Prime Minister’s office.

Core issues such as the Jewish settlement in Gaza, the concept of a central command, the displacement of Hamas (and not just “mowing the grass”) the defeat of Hezbollah and more – were asked in the Patriots studio appropriately, but were answered with a weak answer. A big boost is needed here.

When a Jewish leader answers that settlement in the Land of Israel is not realistic during a course of occupation in a just war like no other – something very basic is missing.

We would not have established the State of Israel based on realistic considerations, we would not have won the War of Independence, not even the Six Day War, and we would not have liberated the Western Wall and the Temple Mount, we would not have collected postcards and we would not have maintained this lone Jewish outpost called “Israel”, in the heart of a hostile Middle East. Yes, everything starts with a vision, not just political maneuvering, “and keep our eyes on your return to Zion with mercy”, a vision that sees far – and achieves what is possible with realistic tools.

To my delight, this spirit was expressed by Yanon Magal and his friends, as well as the stormy applause in the audience specifically for the questions. Hoy says, the rising media voice of the religious camp – is a powerful engine for Israel’s victory. After all, we already learned in the Simchat Torah, that long, long before tanks, airplanes, long before technology and the Iron Dome, and certainly long before political generals – the consciousness, the spirit, the deep and visionary Jewish identity are needed for the State of Israel.

This is also what we learn from the Parshat of the week, Parshat Shelah. Ten spies sent by Moses see the data, and empty the people of the desire for the Land of Israel. Only two of them express “another spirit”. An “unrealistic” spirit, a spirit of “an exalted leaf and we will inherit it” – Yehoshua ben Nun and Caleb ben Yefuna. The eyes saw the same thing, but the heart is the main thing, the heart that bears the name of heaven that expresses the spirit of Israel, this is the heart with which justice is done.

I came out of this Patriots interview a little worried. I saw the “realistic” thinking that failed in Simchat Torah. But I also came away encouraged, there is a huge camp here that takes the fate of the country in its hands, is given a powerful expression in a religious Jewish channel with a lot of si’ata shammia, thus strengthening the Jewish spirit – which is the way to victory.

The author is the CEO of the organizations ‘Hotum’ and ‘Torat Himah’.