Israelis came in for two pieces of bad news this week. The first emanated from the Finance Ministry, whose people reported at the weekly Cabinet meeting Jan. 12 on the government’s resounding failure in protecting the public kitty. According to a forecast by the ministry’s economists, the 2021 budget deficit would reach 4.2% of the gross domestic product (GDP). Two days later, on Jan. 14, the media reported on the annual assessment by the Israel Defense Forces Military Intelligence Directorate, presented recently to top political echelons, which described a crushing strategic defeat. The intelligence analysts expect Iran to have sufficient enriched uranium by the end of 2020 to manufacture one nuclear bomb, and a nuclear warhead a year later.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to reassure the public, saying, “I reiterate — Israel will not allow Iran to achieve nuclear weapons.” He also took advantage of the opportunity to call on the West to expand economic sanctions on Iran. Netanyahu has presumably been updated on the refusal by European states, and by Russia and China, of course, to follow in the footsteps of his friend in the White House regarding tougher economic pressure on Iran. So how does the candidate for the premiership (Netanyahu) intend to prevent Iran from completing its nuclear program by the end of the year? Does the citizenry not have a basic right to know whether Israel is headed for all-out war, one expected to cost the lives of thousands of people in Israel’s unprotected heartland?

The prime minister’s cavalier reaction to the military experts’ troubling assessment precludes any public or political discussion of the Iranian nuclear policy, which he himself shaped and implemented. The ambiguity behind which he hides allows him to evade responsibility for Iran’s decision to violate the 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers. The reason for Iran’s move and its timing are directly linked to the 2018 decision by President Donald Trump to pull the United States out of the agreement, a crucial measure for which Netanyahu has taken credit. Now it is up to Netanyahu to assume responsibility and publicly explain how he intends to deal with its outcome. If he keeps running away, the opposition must hold his feet to the fire at the ballot box on March 2.

Netanyahu is dealing with news of the deficit in the manner he likes best — storming the messenger. The prime minister and the chorus of his ministers disputed the projection and attacked the Finance Ministry officials who presented it. They “forgot” that the forecast prepared by the Bank of Israel put the deficit even higher than the Treasury did. According to a December 2019 projection by the governor of the central bank, professor Amir Yaron, 2021 would end with a 4.5% deficit and by 2025, the shortfall would range from 4.7% to 5.2% of the GDP if left untreated. How does Netanyahu handle this significant gap? He cuts short the discussion, and he can always pass the buck to Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon.