Benjamin Netanyahu’s Finest Hour

How we wish Prime Minister Netanyahu’s father were alive to hear his son address the United Nations later this week. We once hosted a small dinner for the father, Benzion Netanyahu, who — this was in the late 1990s — was in New York to promote his book on the Spanish Inquisition. He shocked us at the time by saying he feared his son, then in his first term as premier, was too weak to lead the Jewish state in its seasons of danger.How times have changed. Our Benny Avni reports that the world body’s commitment to the Palestinian Arabs has reached a fever pitch. The Jewish state is at war in Gaza and Lebanon, and under attack from Iraq, Iran, and Yemen. Some 101 hostages are being held by Hamas. As Israel approaches the anniversary of October 7, it suddenly seems that Benzion Netanyahu’s son, now in command of a war cabinet, is just hitting his stride.It is a remarkable moment. In the days and weeks following October 7, after all, it was widely bruited that, given the intelligence failures in respect of the attack, Mr. Netanyahu’s days as a political leader were numbered. Yet a year later, Nikkei’s London Financial Times, no fan of the prime minister, reports that his “poll standing has recovered from post-October 7 lows to put his Likud party back at the top.”While the FT laments that Israel’s forward leaning posture “has sparked consternation abroad,” it appears to be resonating with the people of the Jewish state. How could it not? One astonishment has followed another. The targeted pagers, the decapitation of Hezbollah’s leadership, the entry into Rafah with minimal casualties, the evacuation of millions from danger, all disclose a military operating at the highest of levels.In bringing the fight to Hezbollah, Mr. Netanyahu is vindicating the rights of Israel’s citizens in the North, more than 60,000 of whom have been for nearly a year been displaced from their homes. Israelis no matter their geography could also take heart in their premier’s sagacity and daring in the face of international condemnation and pressure from Washington, which even now is trundling out a ceasefire agreement to bail out Hezbollah.We get that October 7 occurred on Mr. Netanyahu’s watch, and that many Israelis feel anguish in respect of the prosecution of the war and the prospects for the hostages. It could yet be that when elections are held in 2026 — or before — the country, or a special commission, will deliver the premier a reckoning. As his address to Congress underscored, though, the Jewish state has no better amanuensis. Nor been met with a warmer reception.We appreciate that the war could yet go south. All the greater Mr. Netanyahu’s courage and vision. He has spent decades warning of the Iranian threat. His warnings now appear prophetic as Israel strives to break Tehran’s “ring of fire.” He has faced down the most hostile and condescending critics — at the UN itself, the International Criminal Court, the editorial pages of the New York Times, and even supposed friends like Senator Schumer.None of it can occlude Mr. Netanyahu’s persistence and breathtaking courage. So we find ourselves thinking of that long ago dinner with his father, an eminent historian who at one point served as secretary to the Zionist prophet Vladimir Jabotinsky and later wrote that magisterial history of the Inquisition. We have read that the father and son had a reconciliation late in Benzion’s life. How moved Benzion would have been to see his son today.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s Finest Hour

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