Australian mining magnate Joseph Gutnick, who coined the slogan “Netanyahu is good for the Jews,” now wants Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step down.
Gutnick, who used to be a close friend and confidante of Netanyahu, said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post that he no longer supports him and believes that Netanyahu is not the right person to be prime minister.
Choosing a business model to explain his change of attitude, Gutnick, who is currently visiting Israel, said: “When you’re the CEO of a company in any type of business, and the company doesn’t perform well, the CEO resigns.”
Gutnick accused Netanyahu of repeated procrastination in taking action against Hamas and ongoing delays in establishing a State Commission of inquiry into what occurred on October 7, 2023—specifically, why it happened, who was accountable, who resigned and why, and, most importantly, why the government under Netanyahu has not taken responsibility and has long permitted a Palestinian pay-for-slay policy.
“He was the one responsible for what happened in Gaza and for missed opportunities in normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia,” Gurnick declared. “He’s made too many excuses.”
Gutnick went on to say that Netanyahu never accepts responsibility for flaws or failure and always blames someone else.
The main reason for the fallout between Gutnick and Netanyahu was that the prime minister “doesn’t tolerate anyone who disagrees with him. He called me his soulmate until I disagreed with him. We used to argue all the time. He’s made one mistake after another.”
These days, Gutnick regards Netanyahu as “a self-important narcissist.”
In Gutnick’s opinion, it would be in Israel’s best interests and in world Jewry’s best interests for new elections to be called in Israel as soon as possible.
Aware of Likud’s rising popularity according to surveys taken by professional pollsters, Gutnick proposes that Netanyahu be ousted by Likud and that elections take place immediately afterward. “He doesn’t deserve to be prime minister.”
Refusal to name possible successor
Gutnick refused to name a possible successor, stating only that it should be someone from the political right who does not believe in a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but does believe in treating Palestinians fairly and granting them the same rights as those accorded to Jewish Israelis, provided the Palestinians are loyal to Israel.
His role model is the late prime minister Yitzhak Shamir whom he described as an idealist and a man of principle, whereas Netanyahu “has his own agenda.”.
As for a future prime minister, “there are a lot of good people, ” he said but insisted that It would be unfair for him to name anyone. Several years ago, he thought of Ayelet Shaked as a possible successor when Netanyahu would eventually quit politics – but not anymore.
Despite the global spike in antisemitism, Gutnick doubts that Netanyahu cares much for diaspora Jewry. “He ignores Jews in the diaspora except for those who are on his side.”
Regardless of whose side they’re on, Gutnick pointed out that every Jew in the world is affected by what happens in Israel. This has been painfully obvious since the October 7 massacre by Hamas.
Aside from everything related to the October 7 catastrophe, Gutnick is angry with Netanyahu for failing to show appreciation to the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, whom Gutnick took Netanyahu to meet in 1996 prior to the latter’s first term as prime minister.
“Where were you since 1996?” he asks. “Why haven’t you visited the Rebbe’s graveside?”
The question is particularly pertinent as Chabadniks around the world are marking the 75th anniversary of Menachem Mendel Schneerson’s succeeding his father-in-law as global leader of Chabad Hassidim. When Gutnick took Netanyahu to meet the Rebbe, it wasn’t just for the sake of being in the presence of a great man. It was to receive advice. There are countless individual success stories resulting from people following advice given to them by the Rebbe.
Gutnick himself is one of them.
An ordained Chabad rabbi, he worked as a teacher until the Rebbe advised him to change course and go into mining.
To some extent , Netanyahu owes his political career to the Lubavitcher Rebbe.
Indeed, in his early years in office, he was an excellent and successful prime minister, but then in Gutnick’s perception. He began to believe that “no-one else could run the country”, and that he was the one best suited.
“Netanyahu squashes anyone with leadership talent.”
Gutnick also gives short shrift to Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, whom he sees as an opportunist who acts for political expediency and serves as Netanyuhu’s lackey, who will always do whatever Netanyahu wants.
Gutnick makes it clear that the opinions he expresses in Israel are as an appointed emissary of the Rebbe but not as part of the Chabad leadership. Chabad has its own leaders in Israel, and although Gutnick has been a generous donor to various Chabad projects, primarily in Jerusalem and the Galilee, he does not interfere with anything Chabad is doing in Israel.
However, as a well-known philanthropist who has given millions of dollars to facilitate projects in Israel, he feels that he has the right to express his opinion, albeit not the right to vote, because he does not live in Israel.
Much as he cares about the release of the hostages still in captivity in Gaza, and is horrified by learning of the suffering of those who have been released, he thinks that it is wrong to give in to terrorists or to make concessions to them.
He believes in capital punishment for terrorists.
He cannot reconcile himself to the idea that killers, rapists, and kidnappers are set free.
At this stage, no one knows the consequences of that, he conceded, “but we will know in a few years after letting them out.”
Given the bungling that made the Hamas incursion possible, Gutnick said that it was a miracle rhat they didn’t penetrate further.
Asked about haredi resistance to army service, Gutnick said that someone like King Solomon is needed to resolve that issue.
Questioned as to whether he, like other people of considerable affluence, had given gifts to the Netanyahus, he said he didn’t want to go there but admitted that many years ago, he had brought Netanyahu, his wife, and their two sons to Australia.
When he is in Israel, Gutnick always makes his base in Jerusalem. Like many who live in the capital, he finds the thrust of urban renewal disquieting. “Jerusalem is not a place for high-tech buildings. Jerusalem is losing the beauty of its character,” he stated.
Chabad is prominent wherever Jewish communities are, particularly in Russia and Ukraine. Given the hostilities between the two countries, Gutnick was asked how this affects Chabad relationships. Whichever side in the war between Russia and Ukraine loses, he replies, “They’ll blame the Jews.”
Gutnick currently divides his time between Melbourne, where he has his permanent home, and Tasmania, where he has new, lucrative mining interests.
Asked whether antisemitism is as rabid in Tasmania as it is in Melbourne and Sydney, he responded: “There are nasty people everywhere.”
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