Prime Minister said to promise prominent American Jewish leader, ‘I’ll fix it.’ … But that was in 2023.

Seventeen months ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a major American Jewish leader that his appointment of Itamar Ben Gvir as national security minister and Bezalel Smotrich as finance minister was “a mistake,” and added, “I’ll fix it.”

Netanyahu has never stated publicly that bringing the two far-right ministers into his coalition was a mistake. On the contrary, he has defended his decision against those who say that the policies and statements of the two ministers – primarily, their call for Israel to continue the war, seize permanent control of Gaza for resettlement, and annex the West Bank – has played a major role in Israel’s isolation in the international community and its image as a racist and genocidal state.

The conversation took place in July 2023, in Jerusalem, between Netanyahu and Abraham Foxman, national director emeritus of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), who led the organization from 1987 to 2015.

Their discussion came to light this past week with the publication of “A Shattered World: Jews and Israel After October 7,” a book of essays published by Purdue University Press that addresses the impact of the war on the Jewish future. It includes a Q and A transcript of an interview with Foxman, conducted last spring by Gilbert N. Kahn, a professor of political science at Kean University and co-editor of the........

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