Jerusalem Post columnist calls for judging leaders by their actions
In Israel, a columnist for the Jerusalem Post called for political leaders to be judged by their actions rather than by loud statements. In a text published on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, he linked this idea to the spread of disinformation and public demand for self-confident politicians.
Fakes and unconfirmed reports
As an example, the author cited the Facebook page Bulletin Network, which has about 53,000 followers. It publishes photographs and short reports about Israeli military personnel and police officers who have been killed. According to the columnist, some posts repeat information about old incidents, while others are fabricated.
The author also mentioned a Haaretz report based on a book by journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval. According to the account in the column, the publication reported that UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed allegedly warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, about ten days before the Hamas attack on October 7, that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was preparing a major move against Israel. Netanyahu's office called the report untrue, an unnamed Emirati source confirmed it to Israeli media, while the UAE neither confirmed nor denied the information in a statement.
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Actions matter more than rhetoric
The columnist noted that he could not give an unequivocal assessment of many events of the year, including the Israeli leadership's actions regarding the hostages and the war with Iran, which, according to his text, Israel and the United States started in February. At the same time, he called the return on October 13, 2025, of the last 20 living hostages from Gaza indisputable. According to him, they were released in two groups at an interval of two hours in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
The author wrote that on that day, US President Donald Trump arrived in Israel, met with the families of the hostages, and addressed the Knesset. After that, according to the column, he flew to Sharm el-Sheikh, where more than 20 world leaders gathered to sign an agreement on Gaza. In the author's view, the concrete consequences of decisions should be the criterion for assessing leaders.
The column also cites data from the Israel Democracy Institute: in 2014, 41% of Israelis said the country needed a strong leader who would not take the Knesset, the press, and public opinion into account. In 2021, 57% of respondents answered this way.
