Bibi the ‘no other choice’ candidate

Whatever you might say about Benjamin Netanyahu, and there’s plenty, he’s a brilliant political speaker. And his UN speech was one of his best. A masterclass.

It was constructed in such a way as to appear to be addressed to the gathered diplomats and dignitaries of the 81st UN General Assembly. The ones who hadn’t walked out in protest anyway. When in reality he couldn’t care less about them. He even said so, inviting more of them to leave at the outset of the speech. 

In reality, and effect, it was aimed at a domestic Israeli audience in the middle of an election campaign that will decide his immediate political fate and, for all intents and purposes, his lasting legacy.

The refrain that he repeated over and over, carried by media internationally, was “We have no other choice.” When I mentioned the speech to my wife, she said she hadn’t heard it, but then remarked that she’d heard something about, “no other choice.” I asked her what she thought it meant. She said, as Jews, we have no other choice but to fight to stay alive. 

She had only heard some reports about the speech. She did not even hear the context.

That’s how brilliant the speech was. From a simple, remembered phrase she gleaned a memorable, resonant message. One that was perfectly understood by, and appealed to, a diaspora Jew.

And she wasn’t even the main audience.

The main audience of “We have no other choice” was to voters in Israel. It was that he, Netanyahu, was their only choice in the coming election.

He told the story of his heroic older brother Yoni (Jonathan). Upon hearing that they were preparing for an imminent attack, Bibi went to see Yoni at his military base and asked him what was going to happen. Yoni answered: “We’re going to win. We have no other choice.”

If there was any doubt that the intended audience was actually domestic—a sales job to demonstrate his strength, defiance and competence as a leader who cares only for the security of his tiny country that is in constant mortal peril—it was put to rest when he said:

“Devastating Iran’s nuclear facilities was hard, but for me, it was one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever had to make as Prime Minister. Because if we hadn’t done it, we’d all be dead.”

But would we?

And speaking of peril, what about the peril created by the failures of his government that preceded the catastrophe of October 7? And what about the peril generated by the Gaza military quagmire that has resulted in a humanitarian crisis and left Israel facing unprecedented international condemnation? And what about the consequences of policies that critics argue have contributed to an increasingly dangerous environment for Jewish communities around the world, including the attacks in Australia and, just this week, in Ontario?

Netanyahu had an answer for all that: Lies. Jews have always been hated and will always be hated, through no fault of their own.

So, whatever we’ve been doing in Gaza, in Lebanon, against Iran, we had no other choice.

So vote Bibi, again. The “no other choice” candidate.

Ingenious.

To me, ‘no other choice’ is the motto of an autocrat.