To save the Jewish state, pro-Israel Jews must break from Netanyahu

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a meeting with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office April 7. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Contributing Columnist Sruli Fruchter September 4, 2025

Pro-Israel American Jews swear that they are defending Israel against biased media coverage, blatant double standards, and blood libels. It is why they refuse to believe reports of starvation, stalled hostage negotiations and annexation plans. Warding off anti-Israel sentiment is their raison d’etre.

But though they think their advocacy is serving Israel, it really serves Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — an authoritarian leader who has spent years conflating Israel’s identity with his own. It is leaving the Jewish state in a stalemate, doomed to follow Netanyahu into disaster after disaster.

To save Israel from this fate, pro-Israel Jews must make an unprecedented and difficult decision: to finally break from Netanyahu.

Even after 23 months of near-endless war, Israel faces dire circumstances today. Hamas retains control over portions of Gaza, over 20 living hostages languish in tunnels, and the occupation of Gaza — which will cement Israel’s isolation on the global stage — is imminent. Israel is compromised militarily, morally and diplomatically.

As prime minister, Netanyahu alone bears responsibility for these failures. These realities all trace back to decisions he made before and during this war: He financed Hamas with billions of dollars for over a decade, blew up his own ceasefire and hostage deal for political power and alienated Israel’s most dependable Western allies, such as the United States.

Netanyahu refuses to accept any fault — not even for Hamas’ terrorism on Oct. 7, 2023. Instead, he deflects any criticisms against him as attacks on Israel that seek to see the Jewish state perish. This is a strategic bait-and-switch.

As Israel’s prime minister for over 17 years, Netanyahu has made himself inseparable from the country’s identity. That’s why he maligns the country’s hostage protests as emboldening Hamas and prolonging the country’s disarray.

He followed a similar playbook during the uproar over judicial overhaul in 2023, accusing the huge numbers of Israeli protesters of “joining forces with the PLO and Iran” against the Jewish state. In Netanyahu’s telling, to oppose him is to oppose Israel.

That is part one of Netanyahu’s formula: equate criticism of himself with criticism of Israel. Part two is to frame virtually any forceful disagreement with Israeli policy as stemming from antisemitism.

“The whole world is ganging up on us,” Netanyahu said in March 2024, as international criticism began mounting over Israel’s rate of civilian casualties in Gaza and its lack of a strategic plan. Instead of foreseeing the changing tides of international support for Israel’s military campaign and responding accordingly, Netanyahu dismissed those concerns as the “virus of antisemitism.” To him, it is unfathomable that he can make a mistake.

The result of this strategy is a confusing concoction in which many of Israel’s supporters see any criticism against Netanyahu and his policy decisions as another manifestation of pathological antisemitism.

This is best evidenced by Israel’s hostage crisis.

Polls show that nearly two-thirds of Israeli citizens prioritize returning the hostages over destroying Hamas, all while Netanyahu has stalled or undermined negotiations time and time again. Meanwhile, American Jewish groups continue to parrot Netanyahu’s hollow words that Hamas must unconditionally release them — an outcome everyone knows is never happening.

Instead of amplifying the hostage families’ cries, pro-Israel groups provide cover for Netanyahu to ignore them.

The current motto animating hasbara today is to defend Israel — including Netanyahu — at all costs. If pro-Israel Jews want what is best for Israel, then that needs to change.

First, this requires divorcing Israel from Netanyahu. Blindly supporting whatever Netanyahu insists is best for Israel — such as annexing the West Bank to appease his far-right compatriots, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich — will prolong the country’s crisis. We must distinguish between the interests of Netanyahu and the Jewish state, always prioritizing the latter over the former.

Second, advocacy efforts should only be directed toward Israel’s best interest. What Israel needs in this moment is a clear path toward lasting security, stability and international legitimacy. That means bringing the hostages home and building an internationally supported plan for Gaza; ministers prioritizing social cohesion, not division; and a leader humble enough to rebuild the diplomatic bridges burned by his ego. Netanyahu has failed to do this on every front.

Third, we must be willing to publicly condemn Netanyahu when he takes actions that are profoundly detrimental to the Jewish state. Israel. Consider the occupation of Gaza. This is unpopular with the majority of Israelis and would be devastating — not just for its Palestinian civilians and the Israeli soldiers stationed there, but also for Israel’s international standing.

Rather than serving Israel, this serves Netanyahu and his far-right allies, who will protect his coalition in exchange for occupation. Aside from its legal issues, occupying Gaza is economically unfeasible, morally problematic and too demanding for Israel to pursue. Rather than keep Israel safe, this plan will doom Israel to the same fate it has seen over the last 23 months: one bad decision that spirals into infinitely worse consequences.

Netanyahu has surely seen astonishing wins during his tenure — not least of which are the military defeats of Iran and Hezbollah — but his dishonesty, self-interest and narrow political ambitions make him a constant liability for the Jewish state. Standing up for him comes at the expense of standing up for Israel.

Instead of defending the path Netanyahu has paved — one where our hostages remain trapped, international outrage grows, and Palestinians are treated with cruelty — we must maintain our belief in what Israel ought to be: a country thriving socially, economically and morally.

I understand the fear of stepping out of line with Israel’s elected government. The Jewish people remaining a united front can, indeed, be a powerful force for Israel’s safety. That is not something we should ever take lightly. However, Israel is in a do-or-die situation — appeasing Netanyahu with unquestioning support is not an option we can continue to entertain. The past 23 months are evidence of that.

What the Jewish state needs from its supporters now more than ever is to break from Netanyahu. Failure to do so risks sacrificing Israel’s future on the altar of its leader’s own political agenda. That is indefensible.