PNN – In recent days, alongside continued claims of success in the war, a new tone has emerged in the Israel that has undermined their sense of invincibility; these are the first signs of the formation of a narrative of defeat.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, in recent days, alongside continuous claims of success in the war, a new tone has been emerging in the Israeli media that has undermined their sense of invincibility; these are considered the first signs of the formation of a narrative of defeat.
Al Jazeera wrote: In an op-ed published in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper on March 25, Yossi Yehoshua detailed the tension between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mossad chief David Barnia over the failure of the collapse plans in Iran.
Three days earlier, the New York Times reported that Barnia had presented a plan to American officials in January aimed at fomenting a successful uprising in Iran. It is clear that the Mossad chief would not take such messages to Washington without the approval of his prime minister.
The sense of crisis became more tangible when Eyal Zamir, the head of the Israeli army, warned the security cabinet that the army could collapse from within, especially due to a lack of manpower.
It is never a good sign when political and security levels start blaming each other in the middle of a war. This is not where Israel expected to be a month after launching a joint strike with the United States against Iran.
When the war began, the prevailing mood in Israel was one of euphoria. Senior Israeli officials praised the unprecedented and historic coordination with the United States, which had included two meetings and 15 phone calls between Netanyahu and Donald Trump in the preceding two months.
The Israeli and American armies jointly launched a campaign of heavy bombing, assassinating prominent political, religious and military figures, and damaging security infrastructure, military-industrial sites, missile launch sites, as well as civilian and government buildings, including oil depots and gas fields.
Iran has responded with daily attacks on Israeli targets. Given the tight censorship, it is difficult to know the exact extent of damage on the Israeli side. However, some strategic targets in Israel have been hit, including the nuclear reactor site in Dimona, the Haifa oil refinery and Ben-Gurion Airport. Beyond that, Israelis have been running to shelters and safe rooms for four weeks, and in recent days they have been forced to do so more than in the early days of the war.
The economy is deeply entrenched in defense lock; schools and most businesses remain closed despite several attempts to reopen. Israel is certainly shaken, but it has not yet collapsed.
Meanwhile, among public opinion, war remains very popular. The so-called Zionist opposition rivals the government in enthusiasm for war and support for extreme measures.
However, uncomfortable questions are gradually creeping into public opinion: Have some of Israel’s assumptions about what can be achieved in a war with the US presence been invalidated? Can Iran’s mosaic strategy not only survive, but prove more sustainable and impose heavy costs on the Israelis?
Judging by the nature of the strikes Israel has received and the more effective missiles it has deployed, Iran’s ability to continue retaliatory strikes has far exceeded expectations. The depletion of Israeli and American interceptor missile stocks is a growing concern. Another front has opened up for Israel against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
There are questions about that conflict, too. Israel thought it had dealt a fatal blow to Hezbollah in 2024 and that they were only a minor threat. But the extent to which Hezbollah was able to counter Israeli operations with its own rocket fire and the local resistance to Israeli ground operations has created a tangible sense of helplessness on the Israeli side. Tearful pleas from local leaders in northern Israel to the government for help have gone viral online.
Of course, Israel’s capacity to destroy and maim is undeniable: a million Lebanese have been displaced, bridges connecting southern Lebanon to the rest of the country have been bombed and destroyed, and extensive damage has been caused. But this is yet another military campaign without a clear end.
These military adventures come on the heels of Israel’s campaign of death and destruction in Gaza, where Hamas remains at large. While Gaza has brought an arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister on war crimes charges from the International Criminal Court and a case before the International Court of Justice for violating the Genocide Convention, it has produced no political vision beyond more war and win-lose thinking.
It’s not hard to find a common thread: Israel is adopting a purely military approach, devoid of any realistic political plan. That’s why it all feels like an endless, pointless repetition.
Israel’s overreliance on the military and rejection of political plans has a long history, but what we’re witnessing in the era of perpetual war after 2023 is qualitatively different. To understand this, we need to look at some changes within Israel itself.
Netanyahu’s talk of absolute victory can be understood in part in the context of Israel’s sense of absolute invulnerability; that they can get away with anything, has instilled a sense that the most extreme solutions can be pursued. This situation has been accompanied by changes in Israeli society, politics, and media. Ideological and religious fundamentalist political views have become aligned with large segments of the population, and incitement to genocide has spread in the Israeli media.
For example, the presence of the religious settler class in the highest levels of the Israeli military and security institutions has increased; some prominent members of this movement include David Zini, head of the Shin Bet (internal security service); Avi Bluth, commander of the army’s Central Command; and Yoram Halevi in the Coordinating Authority for Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), which essentially oversees the daily lives of Palestinians.
Crucially, these changes are increasingly shaping Israeli national security thinking. A number of former military strategists close to the power centers are advising that Israel must move away from short wars based on technological superiority to preparing for long-term conflicts that require the permanent seizure of land and the destruction of enemy infrastructure and people.
Pursuing the Greater Israel project has become the default national security doctrine, a project that involves the destruction and eradication of any Palestinian national identity and the effort to establish Israel as the dominant and violent power in the region.
Israel has been and will be a major obstacle to ending this war against Iran. It must be assumed that Israel will continue to encourage and incite tensions and undermine any negotiations or ceasefire talks, and even push the United States towards ground operations. Therefore, Israel’s interests are precisely at odds with the interests of the parties seeking to end this war and its dangers.
Meanwhile, the US President’s sinusoidal and unstable rhetoric does not reflect strength. There are growing nagging doubts that question the existing strategy and the overestimation of Israeli-American capabilities, while the Iranian side is underestimated.
The problem for Israel is that the United States could decide to pack up and go; return to its distant home surrounded by Canadians, Mexicans, and fish, leaving Israel with no good options.
The Suez Crisis of 1956, when Britain and France entered the Middle East war alongside Israel, is considered the defining moment of the end of empire for those countries. Israel’s involvement in the war against Iran may go down in history in similar terms.
It is worth noting that Israel has demonstrated its dependence on America at a time when it is actively accelerating America’s global decline and at the same time making support for Israel less popular among the American public. It is a toxic and dangerous combination.
In attempting to climb to such heights, Israel may be setting itself up for a dramatic and horrific fall.