Smotritz leaves the stage at the 2024 Real Estate Center conference following boos/Walla system!
There is a direct line between the reassuring announcements that Israel is prepared for any possible Iranian response to the assassination of a senior Revolutionary Guards officer in Damascus, and the refusal of the Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, to watch the disturbing video documenting the abduction of female observers from the Gaza border, on the grounds that it might disturb his sleep at night.
Ostensibly, these are two opposites: the first, prepared for any eventuality, the second tries to deny even what happened - but when you come to examine things closely, it turns out that these are two halves of the same whole, the outline of the current government.
Let's start with the Iranians. You don't need to be an expert on the military to understand that an Iranian attack on Israel is something different from anything we have known and experienced so far. On the one hand, Israel is not a widow: if, God forbid, such an attack on a civilian population takes place, the IDF will open up options for a response that the enemy has not known until now. That is, it is not about the destruction of the State of Israel.
On the other hand, there is a good chance that quite a few houses in population in the center, will look like those of Kibbutz Menara, for all that this implies.
Many of the decision makers in Israel know this, a little less of them understand it - and as for those who do what is required of a public figure at this time, for now there is only one tzaddik in Sodom in the form of Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav.
Yahav has suffered quite a few accusations of inciting panic and harming national resilience, but whoever among the residents of his city installs a telephone line in the good old fashioned way, will be able to talk to their loved ones even in the event of the fall of the cellular network, and whoever equips himself with an alternative means of lighting, will not have to grope his way to Alta in the event of a collapse the power grid.
It may be (I hope so) that we will not need all of these, but a public figure is obliged to tell his audience the truth, instead of being required to use clever slogans of "prepared for any scenario" said in a deep bass voice, just as we heard from IDF commanders in the days when we marked the 50th anniversary of the Day War Kippur, the days leading up to the one scenario that no one expected (apart from a few voices that were silenced by those prepared for each scenario).
There is no Israeli public figure who does not study in the first semester of the introductory course to politics about Levi Eshkol's stammering speech on the eve of the Six Day War. As a result, everyone tries to broadcast Confidence, to project strength, to show determination - everyone will choose the term that is closest to their brave heart.
However, if we go back to the last successful war of the State of Israel, it was precisely fear that proved to be the best motivator of the initiative. The fear of annihilation surrounded the State of Israel during the period of waiting for the war It was he who pushed her into the most dangerous offensive move in her history.
It's a shame
I don't want to imply that Israel should attack Tehran before it attacks Haifa and Tel Aviv, but only to show how far the appearance of security has distanced us from security itself - the more Harab's words (and not the Hahab's words), the lower the preparedness, and the more we talked about the strength of The IDF relied more and more on the strength of the American military, the one that turned the president of the United States from the man of the century to the man of opinion.
In exactly the same way, those who sell to the few who still believe him the lie of "a step away from complete victory" are quick to imply that the IDF is not standing Expectations from him.
The last discussion in the cabinet, the one in which the prime minister's "environment" both provokes the provocations and rushes to leak them to the media, was designed to prepare the alibi for the day after: I was "a step away from victory", but my weak partners in the emergency government and my bad generals - they are the ones who did it one with the Americans and prevented the people of Israel from a great achievement under my leadership.
Of course, all of this is constantly echoed in the propaganda channels (including "quotes" from "Hamas sources"), but at least according to the polls it doesn't buy a hold on hearts. Among other things, logic says that there is no person in the world who wants to win this war more than the Chief of Staff. The investigation committee's verdict on him had already been decided even before it convened for its first meeting, the same goes for the continuation of his public career, which was previously discussed for Geniza, but at least the sentence in the judgment of history could be softened If he will be responsible not only for the unprecedented humiliation, but also for a little national pride.
Do not disturb Smotrich's sleep
In another section, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich takes the line of pretending to be self-confident, one step further. Smotrich as Minister of Finance (and as a politician who became very influential) is a national disaster, but for the researchers of this time he will still prove to be an asset, due to his lack of ability to cut between his thoughts and his language.
The reasoning he provided for his unwillingness to watch the kidnapping video is stunning, no less. He is afraid that watching will disturb his sleep at night! In other words: not only does he not recognize that he has ministerial responsibility for the events of that Sabbath, he does not even have the minimal responsibility to observe the results of the actions of the government (and the army, let's not clean each other) on that damned day.
Let it be said right away: the only thing I would expect from the Minister of Finance of the State of Israel during one of the deepest economic crises it has ever known, is not to sleep at night. A bit like a football fan who watches his team's game and is ready to forgive a defender who lost a ball or a striker who was careless in front of the goal, as long as they are seen to be leaving their souls on the grass, only to fight.
Smotrich, who probably does not understand the meaning of the word "war", does what children do when they encounter a scary sight: pulls the blanket over his head, the main thing is that he can sleep peacefully at night.
Even before we need the horrible documentation of the kidnapping of young women who were abandoned to their fate by their commanders, but also by the government that is responsible for them and for them (it seems that this government has a little difficulty understanding things, but on the 50th anniversary of Golda Meir's resignation from the prime ministership, after she had already "won "In the commission of inquiry and even after she won the elections, it seems worth mentioning that no military failure is immune from the responsibility of the political echelon), I was amazed to find out that Bezalel Smotrich sleeps at night.
Between Jonah and Yoav
I would expect a finance minister who committed to a budget that leaves no reserves, to not sleep peacefully at night and dream sweet dreams about a Halacha state, for a thousand other reasons.
I would have been happy if he had been sleeping because of the lack of response to the heads of the authorities in the south, who are now forced to pay bills from hotels to which their residents were evacuated.
I would expect him to wake up screaming in the middle of the night because of the billions that are delayed to save, just like that, the communities that were abandoned to their fate in the north of the country.
I hoped that he was having trouble turning a blind eye to the danger to Israel's credit rating, a fact that could have long-term implications for the money that the State of Israel needs to raise in the world, at high interest rates, to finance the expenses of the ongoing war.
From his response to the offer to watch the minutes documenting the moments of terror of the female observers at the Gaza border, I learned that the man who makes a "good economy with God's help" sleeps well at night, just like those who are "prepared for any scenario".
Therefore - and since we are probably on the eve of an election (even if it is a continuous present that will last several months), I would like to outline here the character of the person who will win my vote: who will be a little less determined on the outside and anxious on the inside, who will not be self-confident, who will not be ashamed of his own words that he " prepared for every scenario" but will often fear that he has neglected the smallest detail even in a seemingly perfect plan.
Let him act out of fear of death, but do the job calmly. That he sometimes sounds thoughtful, that he doesn't show false confidence that comes from the inability to make decisions or take responsibility.
Let there be some exile Jews like Ben-Gurion or Eshkol and even Begin - after we already had to understand that the saber crowned with the military aura may know how to show courage on the battlefield, but failed as a novice in the political field: Rabin (yes, my friends on the left, too!), Barak, Netanyahu - and soon maybe Benny Gantz too.
Until then, listen to Yona Yahav and not to Yoav Galant - and let Smotrich sleep peacefully at night, anyway during the hours he sleeps he at least does not cause any more damage to the State of Israel.