Editor’s note: Richard J. Davis served as assistant secretary of the treasury in the Carter administration and was a former assistant special counsel at Watergate. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. Read more opinions on CNN.
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President Joe Biden speaks about the need to combat the rise in anti-Semitism in the United States, the importance of supporting Israel’s security, and the importance of supporting Israel’s security by Hamas in his speech at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s annual Day of Remembrance on October 7. He spoke appropriately and forcefully about not forgetting the atrocities of the Japanese terrorist attacks. A memorial service was held at the Capitol on Tuesday.
“My commitment to the safety of the Jewish people, the security of Israel, and its right to exist as an independent Jewish state is steadfast, even when we disagree,” he said.
But if we are to combat anti-Semitism, promote Israel’s long-term security, and remember the horrors of the October 7 Hamas attack, we must also recognize the dangerous failures of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government. And we must raise our voices against it.
That failure undermines one of the fundamental requirements for establishing the long-term security of a society: the need for people living in it to believe that they have a stake in and can benefit from it. What he cannot understand is that there is. If so, they will want it to be as safe and secure as possible. But if many people believe that they have no stake in society and no real hope of participating in its success, they will resort to violence to create a place where they believe they can meaningfully participate. Much more likely to rely on you.
If Prime Minister Netanyahu understood this principle, his government would not include dangerous extremists, but would continue to support the massive expansion of West Bank settlements and illegal settlements that deny Palestinians any hope for a better future. They will not pursue policies such as land recognition. And the reality that efforts to support Israel’s long-term security, combat the scourge of anti-Semitism, and address the Gaza protests on campuses at home and abroad are further complicated by Prime Minister Netanyahu’s extremism. There will be no need to deal with it. government.
Netanyahu, an outspoken critic of the 1993 Oslo peace accords, has spent his years as prime minister pushing for settlement expansion in the West Bank and denying Palestinians hope for any semblance of a state of their own. It has been made clear.
According to the New York Times, he even said he would not object to Arab states providing aid to Hamas as part of showing that Israel has no viable negotiators. But he reached a new low in 2022 when he welcomed into government the most extreme anti-Palestinian in Israeli politics. Their participation sent a clear message to the Palestinians that they cannot hope for a better future in any land controlled by Israel.
Prime Minister Netanyahu has invited Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir to join his government. The former was appointed Minister of Finance and given responsibility for West Bank settlements. However, during a debate on the immigration bill, he suggested that it was a mistake not to expel all Arabs from Israel in 1948. “There is no such thing as a Palestinian nation,” he insisted. He supports the incorporation of all of the West Bank into Israel. He said he supports the voluntary relocation of Palestinians from Gaza.
Ben Gvir, who was given the national security portfolio, is probably even worse. He was convicted of inciting racism against Arabs and was suspected of being a member of a terrorist group. He idolized the killing of Palestinians. Before he was assassinated in 1995, he publicly threatened then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. And he argued that his right to travel in the West Bank was more important than the travel rights of Palestinians. And just late last month, he reportedly asked the Israeli Defense Forces why they were taking so many prisoners of war without killing Palestinians (if they did, violation of international law).
Prime Minister Netanyahu removed Smotrich and Ben Gvir from their posts after the opposition’s first offer for a unity government after the October 7 terrorist attacks involved removing them from the cabinet. I had the opportunity to dismiss him.Prime Minister Netanyahu appears to be focused on keeping the coalition government intact and maintaining power. Rejected. As a result, his unity government still gives a platform to these extremists today. And, as we have seen, it has given the followers of these extremists permission to attack Palestinians in the West Bank and even attack Jordanian aid convoys.
There is no question that Israel’s strong military response was justified. There is also no doubt that Hamas’s integration of fighters and military infrastructure into civilian populations has necessarily increased the dangers faced by civilians in Gaza. However, as has been widely reported, the military tactics employed by Netanyahu’s government have resulted in heavy casualties among civilians, including international aid workers. The approach to aid to Gaza has created a historic humanitarian crisis.
At the same time, Israel has continued to significantly expand its settlements in the West Bank. The message being sent is clear. As far as the Netanyahu government is concerned, Palestinian lives do not matter and there is no reason for them to expect a better future. As a result, no matter how weakened Hamas is, a new generation of terrorists is being created. And the brutality of Hamas’s October 7 terrorist attack and the plight of the hostages are being erased.
So what should organizations and individuals who believe in Israel and the need to combat anti-Semitism, whether on college campuses or elsewhere, do? Make sure their efforts are credible. To do so, one should not avoid legitimate criticism of Israel. They must denounce the participation of Mr. Smotrich and Mr. Ben Gvir in the Israeli government. They need to tell Israel, as the US government is doing, that there are no more excuses. Israel must do what is necessary to expand and simplify the process of sending humanitarian aid to Gaza. It also needs to be clear that Israel needs to change its military tactics to dramatically reduce civilian deaths. And while it will be difficult, they need to publicly demand an end to settlement expansion in the West Bank and a path to a two-state solution.
Ignoring the extremism of the Netanyahu government and the horrific humanitarian disaster in Gaza only undermines the credibility of those who seek to protect Israel and combat anti-Semitism. Indeed, the Netanyahu government and his actions risk adding fuel to the dangerous fire of anti-Semitism. And tragically, for too many people around the world, disgust with his government’s methods risks no longer supporting the legitimacy of Israel itself.
