by Ilan Sheinfeld
(from War Diary 243)
There was a time when people used to say of certain leaders — those who knew how to shrug off responsibility, who could let every scandal or suspicion slide away as if it were no more than dust on their sleeve — that they were made of Teflon.
Nothing stuck to them. They knew how to evade every charge, every hint of guilt.
Such remarks were often made with a kind of admiration or awe. How does this person always get away with it? How does he manage to conduct himself so that nothing clings to him, and he remains untouched, still in power?
To my mind, such public behavior is deeply corrupt. It represents moral decay.
A leader who cannot accept responsibility, who cannot feel guilt or remorse, is unfit to lead. Such a person must step aside for a leader of flesh and blood—someone who does not pretend to be superhuman, but who recognizes his own humanity, with all its strengths and its failings, and who acknowledges his responsibility toward the people he seeks to serve.
Looking at Benjamin Netanyahu in recent years—indeed, from the moment, then Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced the filing of a (watered-down and softened) indictment against him, up until these very days of his testimony in court — it is clear that Benjamin Netanyahu is not made of Teflon.
Benjamin Netanyahu is made of slime.
His contortions inside and outside the courtroom; his hollow declarations that his cases are “stitched up” and baseless; his refusal to appoint a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 massacre that took place under his watch; his constant deflection of responsibility and blame, scattering it in every direction—onto every level of the defense establishment and the judiciary—while at the same time maneuvering, both behind the scenes and in public, to evade his trial through a dubious, improper, and arguably illegal manipulation of the pardon process—all of these, I believe, testify more clearly than a thousand witnesses.
The man knows his trial is not collapsing.
He knows there is substance to the accusations.
And he fears that an even larger Pandora’s box may soon be opened—from the Qatar-gate affair, through the revelations of Udi Levi, to the testimonies of leaders and senior figures in Israel and abroad regarding his allegedly corrupt conduct.
And so, he cannot simply brush off these accusations—they cling to him. He quite literally cannot rid himself of them.
His fear exposes his true nature. He is empty, hollow, devoid of any moral center.
He has no loyalty to anyone, no values, no boundaries. The only things that concern him are his freedom, his power, and the continuation of his greed.
At the head of Israel’s government stands not a fearless leader, not a master of economics or security, nor even a compassionate, self-reflective human being capable of remorse.
At the head of Israel’s government stands a man made of—and filled with—slime.
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