Complacency Kills

December 14, 2025

Complacency Kills

I was asked why now to write about complacency. The living hostages are home, the war is hopefully over, we have one missing dead hostage still in Gaza. So why now? Great question and it made me think, why now.

There are always things, important things going on in this country. So why now am I talking about complacency? It’s very simple. With all that we do have going on, there are a number of major future impacting issues right in front of us that are on the news and in the Knesset every day. They make the headlines, lots of people grumble and very few are out there doing something about them.

We can say the same thing about so many things that continue to happen in this country and it seems that a day doesn’t go by that we aren’t faced with other headlines of horrendous actions of this government and this Prime Minister.

However, there are 4, probably more, issues that are going to have impact on our beloved country for generations: The Draft Dodging Law, the Judicial Overthrow, State Commission of Inquiry into October 7, the upcoming elections.

Each of these 4 issues will have impact on so many things in our lives, the lives of our children and their children. They will influence how we will live, our security and personal sacrifices for the country, the make-up of our future governments and most impacting, what this country will be. Will it be what we dream about: a country at peace; a strong and united country; a thriving and resilient democracy; a country of world-leading and world-changing technology, innovation and opportunity; a country of inspiring education; a country with leadership that is trustworthy, responsible, uniting and serve as examples; a safe haven for all Jews and a fair and welcoming home for all our citizens?

These are earth-shaking questions. These are the moments that shape us and all those around us.

Years ago, when I joined the small group of people to fight to bring Avera Mengistu home from captivity in Gaza, we would have small demonstrations in various locations. Most Israelis, at that time didn’t know the name Avera Mengistu but those who had some idea, honked their horns in support. As an Israeli leftist who has been to many demonstrations for peace and coexistence, I have been cursed at, assaulted, called a traitor and so many other things. Demonstrating on behalf of Avera was the first time I was at demonstrations and marches that people passing by supported and didn’t spit at me. That, in itself was a strange feeling. However, it was also being part of a small group that cared about something important but feeling very much alone. The support we received was by people passing by, honking their horns, giving the thumbs up and continuing on their way. I doubt that they even mentioned the demonstration that they passed to anyone else. When we had marches, one of the cries from the megaphones was for people to come out to join the struggle and that complacency kills. We saw people come out sometimes to their porches to see what the noise was from below and they also heard the cries but it wasn’t enough to move them to action.

After the first months of the war, demonstrations started in Jerusalem on behalf of the hostages. We were just a few handfuls of people coming out on a Saturday night calling for the government to do everything it could to bring the hostages home. At that time, it was not even a goal of the war. Over the months, more people joined in and the demonstrations began to take on form with a stage and speakers and a screen for projecting the pictures and names of the hostages. We went from tens to hundreds and eventually to thousands. In Tel Aviv, it was tens of thousands. It took over a year of misery and war to reach these numbers. But they were never enough. I knew all along that we never had a chance to influence the government and in particular, the prime minister (and his wife) with these numbers. We were there for the hostage families. They needed and still need all of our support. If, however, these numbers would have been a million in the streets every Saturday night, it could have been different.

Political animals change or take on positions based on political import, or in other words, is it good for their political careers? In an age where current political leadership is all about personal and political self-interests, the overriding question and concern for these so-called leaders is if giving their support for something will serve their interests; will it keep them in power; will it give them a boost for the next elections; will it expand their base; will they get more budgets for jobs and influence; it’s all about them and not about the country or the people. It has little or nothing to do with moral and ethical responsibility, patriotism, making the country a better place for all its citizens.

For them, the public only matters before elections. Some politicians have had rare moments of honesty and have said this outright. Public civil complacency enables this thought, this fact. It doesn’t matter if there are so many people who are against particular actions of these leaders, these politicians. They may make up a silent majority but it doesn’t matter because they are silent. The silence continues throughout the upheavals that are being shoved down our throats and the silence continues up until the ballot box because so many of this silent majority think that they can’t make a difference. When elections do come, there are so many who don’t even bother to vote and those who make the effort to get to their ballot location, vote either based on their historical voting or whoever made the most noise. This, too is a level of complacency if they don’t vote or if their vote is not based on what they demand for leadership.

For much or Israel’s history, our leaders rely on the public’s short memory and short attention span. They whitewash, gaslight, lie repeatedly and devote lots of energy, time and money to rewrite the narrative in the hope that their version of events will become the new facts that their base will hold on to and fight against any other version, especially the true version of what actually did happen. This has worsened beyond recognition and become the norm in their politics and they have developed well-oiled mechanisms for their political and personal purposes. The most well-known, in theory is the Netanyahu poison machine that is orchestrated behind the scenes by both Sarah and Amir from his cozy condominium in Florida. As has been presented in multiple news reports, the people involved have huge networks that they can trigger at a moment’s notice, as well as bots that pour out like fire hydrants on the social networks to both sell the lies and rewritten narratives and tear down all opposition to their supreme leader. This poison machine works separately but in conjunction with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), and it has been reported by many people who have worked closely with Netanyahu that nothing happens in the PMO that he doesn’t know about and approve.

From October 8, the day after the worst attack on the State of Israel in history and the worst day and massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, Netanyahu’s most important meeting of that day was with his political advisors and PR people. Netanyahu, of course recognized that October 7 could be the beginning of his end in politics and totally devastate the legacy he has spent the last 30 years creating. From dreams of having his name on buildings and roads, to having universities and cities named after him, he was going to go into the history books as the Prime Minister responsible for bringing this disaster upon his people and country. From pushing his moniker of “Mr. Security”, he would be forever known as “Mr. Abandonment”. These things were more unthinkable and destructive than the October 7 Massacre itself. He and his people could never allow this to happen, so on October 8, their game plan materialized and it was seen and heard immediately. Netanyahu’s position has always been never to take blame for anything and only take credit especially when the credit was due to others. As of October 8, all blame and responsibility for October 7 and everything that led up to it was on the security organizations (The IDF, The Shin Bet, The Mossad, all of the Intelligence Agencies) and nothing was the blame or responsibility of the government and in particular, the one who sits at the top. The Netanyahu Doctrine of Responsibility is only to take responsibility for good things. Bad things are the responsibility and blame of others. As opposed to the desk sign on US President Harry Truman which read “The Buck Stops Here”, if Netanyahu had a similar sign, it would read “The Buck Stops..” and have arrows pointed everywhere but to himself.

Following October 7, I and so many others were convinced that Netanyahu and his extremist government would soon become a part of the worst chapter of history of the State. I was certain that things would be different due to the events of October 7, the horrible 2-year war where we lost over 900 of our soldiers, the rape, torture, incineration and brutal murders of 1200 people, of them, women, children, elderly, party goers, handicapped, innocents just living their lives. I believed that everything that happened to all of us on October 7 and beyond would be deeply embedded in our minds and thoughts and the majority of us would forever banish the leaders who brought this upon us.
However, my fears have grown that perhaps I am giving too much credit to the memory of October 7 and not enough credit to the poison machine and the base that inhales the lies and rewritten narrative as their life giving and affirming oxygen. With everything that Netanyahu is and has done to us, the one thing that can never be denied is that he is a magician both at keeping a failing government together and by selling himself and his false narratives for his based to eat up. He has a dyed in the wool base will never listen to anything that speaks against him or his family. It is very cult-like and nothing can get through, no matter how much proof is right in front of them and they view facts as political opinions that are anti-Bibi. Yet, there are so many historical Netanyahu voters who are not in this Bibi-cult. Many may be close and are much harder to reason with, but they may yet have an inkling of openness to look and listen objectively, but most of the non-cultist need just to be shaken out of the Bibi fog and be reminded of our reality that changed forever on October 7. So many of these people are fence sitters who ebb and flow with the tides and some are influenced by the loudest voices just before elections.

It is upon all of us to stop being fence sitters, to end the complacency, to look at the facts (there is no such thing as alternative facts), to re-open our eyes and remember all that has happened in the last 2 years, to recognize that despite all that Netanyahu and his cronies say, he has been in power for the better part of the last 2 decades, so YES, he is responsible, he is to blame, he has been the person who has directed the policies that drive the security forces and intelligence agencies in their directions. He is the person who has placed as many yes men in his orbit as possible to root out disruption to his ideas and directions as well as go along with his deliberate absences of strategic plans, not for the war and not for the country as a whole. Strategic plans are problematic for someone who refuses to take responsibility for failure because formal strategic plans can be looked at closely and objectively and therefore present the clear ability to determine if there are successes or failures in that plan and the actions done to achieve or failure to achieve them. When there are no formal strategic plans and only opaque and innocuous statements, only the person making those statements can determine if and when there are successes and never have to admit to failures. This is historically the way that Netanyahu functions and leads and all those around him are his enablers, never calling him to task.
Now is the time to call Netanyahu and all of his failed government to task. There is too much at stake for our futures and our future generations and for the State itself. We much make complacency a curse word. We must make everyone an activist at some level. Activism is not just for the young who have the fire in their blood, it is the responsibility of everyone one of us who wants a better future, who want Israel to be the country that we have always dreamed it can be, who want to change how we are living today, who are sick of sending our best hopes for the future to war to fight, to die, to be maimed physically, mentally and emotionally, who want leaders who are worthy of us and must prove that worthiness every single day, who want an Eretz Yisrael Yafa (A Beautiful Eretz Yisrael). These changes won’t happen by themselves and they certainly won’t happen with our current leadership. We all have the power to make these changes but we must get up from our sofas, get out of our comfortable homes, make efforts to bring about and force change. We can no longer rely on everyone else to go out to do it for us. We must be the change we want to see in the world and in our beloved country. Let’s kill complacency and make our voices heard.