On April 19, Likud Knesset members clashed with bereaved parents during a session of the Knesset's State Control Committee meeting dedicated to the 2014 Operation Protective Edge report. Watching for the second time the footage of this clash between the Knesset members and parents who lost their sons in the war is just as jarring as seeing it the first time. The problem is more than just the boorish and insensitive comments by David Bitan and Miki Zohar, who lashed out at the parents as if they were their political rivals. Even more disturbing was the silence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself, who was present at the meeting.

The fact that the prime minister kept silent when Bitan, the chairman of his coalition, shouted "Liar!" at Ilan Sagi, who lost his son Erez in Gaza, was even more disturbing than the slur itself. True, Netanyahu mumbled something under his breath to Knesset member Zohar, who interrupted Leah Goldin, the mother of fallen soldier Hadar Goldin, to tell her that her claims were "exaggerated." Apart from that, however, Netanyahu allowed the unbelievable spectacle to unfold without stepping in.

Netanyahu was trying to show restraint and maintain the meeting's decorum. He knows what it is like to lose a loved one in battle, but at the same time, he is already used to such heated discussions, having sent soldiers into battle on more than one occasion. Several times during his long political career, Netanyahu was even accused of climbing to the top of the political ladder by exploiting the death of his brother, Lt. Col. Yoni Netanyahu, commander of the Matkal Commando Unit, who died at the Entebbe hostage rescue operation in 1976. Whenever such an accusation is made, it is generally expressed anonymously, given the sanctity of fallen soldiers in Israel. It is, therefore, unfair to say that as a bereaved brother, Netanyahu should have silenced his fellow party members.

Netanyahu's real shortcoming during this meeting was his failure to exhibit leadership. He showed weakness before the cameras when he should have taken action. He should have banged his hand on the table, reprimanded Zohar and Bitan, and demanded that they apologize immediately to the bereaved parents. Maybe that would have spared the Likud at least some of the humiliation it has faced in the media over the past few days. And since he didn't do that, he should have apologized the next day, or two days later at most. What actually happened was that Netanyahu waited four days before he apologized, and even then, his apology was cautious and lackluster. To many, it seemed as if he was only fulfilling his duty one week before Israel's Memorial Day for its fallen soldiers — May 1 this year.