Over the past two years, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not merely been waging a battle for his political survival – he is conducting a campaign over the memory of the State of Israel.
Since the massacre of October 7, an unprecedented effort has been underway to rewrite reality. A well-oiled machine of messaging, spokespeople, and influence agents operates ceaselessly to alter the narrative, blur accountability, and shift the center of gravity away from the greatest failure in the country's history toward other conflicts and alternative targets of blame. The objective is clear, aiming to erase from the public consciousness the direct link between the policy, the concept, the leadership, and the most horrific disaster Israel has ever known.
Now comes the "forgetfulness and survival deal."
This political deal is being forged with the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties over the heads of all of us, centered around the draft issue, with the sole purpose of ensuring the integrity and discipline of the coalition and the survival of the government.
The price of this is not merely political or budgetary – it is moral and national.
While thousands of families bear the burden of the war, bereavement, injuries, and reserve duty, the government is busy distributing exemptions and securing its political stability. Instead of accountability, soul-searching, and rectification, the public is offered a transaction of forgetting. Instead of confronting the root causes of the failure, they attempt to replace public discourse with deals and spin.
Yet October 7 cannot be erased. The outcry of the murdered, the fallen, the hostages and their families – and us, the bereaved families – cannot be silenced.
Coalition agreements cannot cover up the pain of an entire nation. Reality is stronger than any consciousness campaign, and the truth continues to stand as a sharp indictment against those who seek to flee from it. For one can delay the reckoning, and one can try to rewrite the story, but one cannot defeat memory, and certainly not the truth, which is so incredibly painful.
The writer is the father of Roni Eshel, an IDF field observer who was murdered by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.
