Netanyahu and Trump Cannot Admit They Made a Mistake
“The chief qualification of a mass leader has become unending infallibility; he can never admit an error” — Hannah Arendt.
The quote above seems to explain a great deal about both President Donald J. Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The pair of leaders are scheduled to meet with representatives of the UAE and Oman at the White House today to sign a normalization agreement.
Events and revelations of the past few days have underscored how neither of these two men can admit to having made any mistakes. Netanyahu gave a press conference Sunday night, just one hour before he headed to Ben Gurion airport. The purpose of the press conference was to announce a curfew on Israel slated to begin Friday afternoon, right before the start of Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year.
The government had no choice regarding imposition of a second lockdown, as the Coronavirus infection rate in Israel is soaring; as Israeli hospitals are close to being overwhelmed. By all measurements, the need to reinstate a curfew points to a significant failure on the part of the government; failure which resulted from the reckless manner in which Israel reopened its economy after the first shutdown, together with the government’s inability to reimpose almost any restriction during the three months in which the numbers of those infected have been steadily going up.
At his pre-boarding press conference, Netanyahu not only refused to admit to making any mistakes in his handling of any aspect of the Coronavirus. instead, the Prime Minister explained that the reason Israel’s GDP decreased less than some other countries during this crisis was precisely because we opened our schools and economy’s so quickly — thus, proving it was the right decision.
After applauding his owns actions, Netanyahu ended his press conference, saying he “had a plane to catch,” leaving behind a nation about to go back into lockdown. Netanyahu is only the first among equals; in dozens of interviews over the last week, not one Israeli minister (Health, Education Finance, Defense, and more) would admit anyone made any mistakes in managing the Coronavirus.
Meanwhile, Trump, Netanyahu’s partner in reaching agreements with the Gulf States, has taken infallibility to a whole new level. Even though the recent revelation of the tapes made by Bob Woodard makes it clear Trump knew of the deadly potential of the Coronavirus, the President told the American people that COVID-19 did not present a threat. Trump supporters acted accordingly, without doubt, resulting in thousands of needless deaths. However, instead of admitting he had been wrong about the disease, Trump has doubled down, holding indoor rallies — full of unmasked participants.
Normalization with the Gulf States is important for Israel and will bring forth long term positive impact on the country. For President Trump, forging this agreement is a clear foreign policy accomplishment, in a Presidency that has been devoid of many foreign policy achievements.
However, the primary issue on the minds of most Americans and a majority of Israelis these days is COVID-19. If our leaders could for once admit— “We are sorry, we made mistakes,” they might find a public more willing to afford them the benefit of the doubt. Sadly, At the moment, the hope that either of these leaders might see the error of their ways and publicly accept responsibility for their failures of the last six months seems like a pipe dream. Whatever foreign policy victory both Trump and Netanyahu achieve, it will be difficult to wipe away the stain of their collective failures when it comes to COVID-19.
