Specifically because he is not a great orator, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's speech at the UN was excellent. First of all, there was the packaging. The fidgety Bennett, who always diverges from the text in front of him and tends to speak Hebrew colloquially and improperly – projected national and self-confidence, maintained a good rhythm, stuck to the original text, avoided any slips of the tongue (except for one, inconsequential instance) and sounded good speaking in fluent English.
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The points he laid out were organized, interesting and relevant. Those who complained he spoke to his public at home are apparently unaware that this is the purpose of these speeches. The leaders don't speak because of protocol and politeness, rather in order to present the issues atop their respective countries' national agendas, which also pertain to the international community. Bennett passed this test in a generally impressive fashion. His comparison between the coronavirus and social media as destroyers of societies and countries was brilliant. Additionally, his very emphasis on the threat posed by social media provides pertinent insight from a global perspective. It's a very good thing this was raised by the prime minister of Israel.
Bennett's speech did contain one flaw. Although he explained that the essence of Israel and its people was not about wars with its neighbors, in the same breath he also said, "From time to time, we might need to leave our jobs, say goodbye to our families, and rush to the battlefield to defend our country." It seems that for non-Israelis, these two points might sound like a contradiction. On the other hand, the slightly different tone he employed when speaking about the Iranian threat, and the almost complete disregard of the Palestinian issue, was a refreshing change. The endless verbal wrangling with the Palestinians contributes to nothing. At this point in history any such discourse serves them and not us, because, among other reasons, everyone agrees that a resolution to the conflict is not in the foreseeable future.
"Iran's nuclear program has hit a watershed moment. And so has our tolerance," Bennett said, sufficing with a restrained threat toward the Iranians. We are indeed fed up with words when it comes to the Iranians, and from this perspective, too, Bennett devoted too much of his speech to them.
The sentence that was concerning in this context was his half-request, half-commitment to the international community. "If we put our heads to it, if we're serious about stopping it, if we use all our resourcefulness, we can prevail," he said. On this point, Bennett should have clarified that even sans such cooperation Israel will not sit idly by.
Even his statement that "Running a country during a pandemic is not only about health; it's about carefully balancing all aspects of life that are affected by corona, especially jobs and education," and that "While doctors are an important input, they cannot be the ones running the national initiative," was within the realm of reasonable. Ultimately, every country is dealing with these dilemmas and Bennett's position is a legitimate one. He perhaps didn't need to attack the doctors when speaking to reporters after the speech, but the fundamental approach, whereby final responsibility falls on the elected officials and not on the clerks, is correct and should be expanded to other aspects of the country's management, particularly the failing law enforcement system.
Bottom line, Bennett's performance was solid – and by the way, all leaders look better abroad than at home. He went to the UN to improve his image at home and from this perspective perhaps he did win a few points. The issue is that one successful speech doesn't resolve the fundamental problems. First and foremost, Bennett needs to stop lying. He wasn't truthful when describing his government as a creation of a "political accident." Governments aren't born unintentionally or accidentally. In the press briefing following the speech, he also denied comments about the war on coronavirus that he clearly made, more than once. It isn't clear who he is trying to fool with these bluffs. Leadership cannot be built on charlatanism.
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