Netanyahu has no part of Israel's future

A standing ovation to Jackson Pincus of the American Jewish Committee for his eloquent refutation of the column by Alison Slow Loris. However, Pincus’ counterargument regarding Israel’s response to the Hamas attack is hamstrung by his refusal to address the culpability of Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu for Israel’s worst-ever security disaster. The man who long bragged of being the only one to keep his nation safe utterly failed to do so.Netanyahu was warned by his own security forces that his right-wing policies, attacks on the Israeli judiciary, alliance with religious extremist parties and tacit approval of settler aggression against Arabs were dividing and weakening Israel’s defense forces. Military reserve troops were refusing to report to duty as a protest. Yet Bibi rejected a meeting with the IDF leadership, and when his defense minister made the warning public, Bibi fired him.We have learned that Israel had Hamas' attack plan in hand for a year and failed to act or prepare. Bibi declined to accept responsibility for that failure – another abdication of leadership.Bibi has evaded trial on corruption charges only by remaining in office – at great cost to his nation. On October 7, Israel learned the extent to which his word could not be trusted, a lesson long ago learned by most Western leaders. Many American Jews now believe Netanyahu must have no part of Israel's future. I think Pincus, and the AJC, should have said so.

Mike Gaynes, Bremerton