Israel’s Crisis of Faith

Claim One: The Prime Minister of Israel cannot afford to mistrust the head of the Shin Bet — Israel’s internal security agency — during a time of war. This is why Bibi wants to fire Ronen Bar, whose leadership has been called into question after presiding over the worst intelligence failure in Israel’s history.

Rebuttal One: Netanyahu is cynically firing Bar because Bar is investigating him and others in his administration over the “Qatargate” scandal. This has nothing to do with trust but is rather a desperate attempt to remove anyone who gets in his way.

Claim Two: Military pressure is the best way to achieve Israel’s war goals — defeating Hamas and securing the release of the hostages. In the face of Hamas intransigence, this is why Netanyahu resumed fighting in Gaza.

Rebuttal Two: Netanyahu is terrified of losing political power and can only keep his coalition together by continuing the war in Gaza. He is more than willing to sacrifice the lives of the hostages on the altar of his own political ambition.

Claim Three: Netanyahu is resisting an internal probe of Oct. 7 because he is laser-focused on the war effort, and such a probe must wait until after the war has been won.

Rebuttal Three: Netanyahu is resisting an internal probe of Oct. 7 because it would reveal the extent to which he is responsible for the deadliest day in Israel’s history.

This essay will not be debating these claims and counterclaims.

I will not try to convince you that Netanyahu is acting in Israel’s best interest or that he is acting cynically for self-preservation. I have my own opinions on these matters, but ultimately, when it comes to a debate about a person’s inner motives, all we have is conjecture. Is Bibi fighting for Israel? Or is Bibi fighting for Bibi? Only one man knows the truth.

At a certain point, however, the question itself becomes a kind of fact. The mistrust that many Israelis feel may be justified or unjustified, but it cannot simply be waved away.

Netanyahu claims that a prime minister cannot afford to mistrust the head of the Shin Bet during a war. So be it! But neither can a nation afford to mistrust its prime minister during a war. If Israelis are going to continue to sacrifice for the war effort, putting their lives on the line every single day, they need to believe that their sacrifice is for the safety of their people — not for the sake of one man keeping his job.

And yet, the cloud of suspicion over Bibi’s choices cannot be easily dismissed. Perhaps it can be ascribed in part to a sort of “Bibi Derangement Syndrome” on the Israeli left, but it’s also a fact that Netanyahu has serious conflicts of interest, which inevitably invite suspicion about his decision-making.

For instance, firing the head of a department that is investigating your administration is inherently suspect. So is resuming a war when your coalition members have openly threatened to topple your government if you don’t. So is rejecting public demands for an Oct. 7 probe that would almost certainly reveal critical errors made during your tenure.

It’s possible that Bibi is acting in good faith, but even the appearance of political motivation is concerning. Judges recuse themselves not just to prevent bias but to uphold public trust, which a justice system cannot function without. The same principle applies to leadership — any perception of self-interest can erode confidence when trust is most essential.

It’s unclear how the public can be expected to trust the PM in light of these compromising realities. Unsurprisingly, many polls show that they don’t.

A poll from Reichman University’s Institute for Liberty and Responsibility found that only 17% of Israelis trust the government.

A December Channel 13 poll reported that only 29% of the public trusts Netanyahu.

An April poll revealed that a staggering 50% of Israelis believe Netanyahu is acting primarily out of concern for his own political future.

Whether the public is right or wrong to distrust Netanyahu is debatable — but it’s ultimately irrelevant. A lack of trust in leadership is a fact that cannot itself be debated and has consequences of its own.

Whether the public is right or wrong to distrust Netanyahu is debatable — but it’s ultimately irrelevant. A lack of trust in leadership is a fact that cannot itself be debated and has consequences of its own.

Israel cannot achieve its war aims without restoring basic trust in the government. Whether or not Netanyahu has been treated unfairly by his critics, the crisis of trust is undeniable.

Netanyahu most of all should recognize this. And by not stepping down, he only strengthens the perception that his own grasp on power is more important to him than the well-being of his people. But that’s just my own speculation, and as I mentioned, we need not speculate.

Israel’s crisis of faith is not a matter of opinion—it is a reality that none of us can afford to ignore.

Matthew Schultz is a Jewish Journal columnist and rabbinical student at Hebrew College. He is the author of the essay collection “What Came Before” (Tupelo, 2020) and lives in Boston and Jerusalem.