Israelis love wars, especially when they start. There has never been a war that (all) of Israel did not initially cheer for. There has never been a war, except for the one in 1973, that (all) of Israel did not initially marvel at the incredible military and intelligence capabilities of our army. And there has never been a war that did not end in tears. Menachem Begin entered the Lebanon War euphorically, and came out of it clinically depressed. And he is just one example. There is a good chance that this will happen with the war against Iran. The initial euphoria is there, the anthem “Victory over Iran” is ready, but in the end, we are doomed.
The wings of our air force pilots, stained with the blood of thousands of children and tens of thousands of innocent people, became clean after a few flights to Iran. We haven't heard such heroes, such a general eulogy for the air force since the miracle of the Six-Day War. How they just directed a missile through the terrace, and then so that it came out the window. Even Benjamin Netanyahu regained his legitimacy overnight and is our Winston Churchill again, at least for many of us. Television and social networks exploded with self-praise. "When we want, we know how to hit the target," boasted Liat Ron on the "Walla" portal. "June 13th, another historic opportunity. We must not miss it. All the best to the Israeli army and long live the state of Israel," wrote Amit Segal, a man considered the most influential journalist in the country.
The first days of war are always our most beautiful, most intoxicating and best days. Ah, how we destroyed three air force units in 1967, and how we killed 89 traffic policemen on the first day of Operation Oferet Yetzuk against Hamas in 2008. Always the same hubris, constant glorification of the heroism of the army and the Mossad. The day before yesterday there were some who, after 100 combat sorties, changed the regime in Iran. This enthusiasm is always accompanied by a sense of justice. We had no elections in 1967, nor in 1982, there were no more just wars than those. The day before yesterday there was no election again. A cinematic takeoff at the beginning, a tragedy at the end.
The sense of satisfaction had already faded on Saturday night, after three sirens sent millions of Israelis into shelters, followed by destruction and death. That could not compensate for the nine Iranian nuclear physicists killed, and neither was the slain commander of the Revolutionary Guard (who has already been replaced). Israel rushed into a war that could have been avoided if Netanyahu had not forced Donald Trump to withdraw from Barack Obama's nuclear deal in 2018, a deal that Trump would be happy to sign today.
Israel always has a narrowing of consciousness after its first successes and never thinks about the day after. After several months of nightly descents into shelters, with a devastated economy and even more so morale, we will begin to wonder whether the price was too high and whether we really had no other choice. But such questions are not even legitimate now.
How much patience does Iran have, and how much does Israel have? How long can Tel Aviv endure under the shadow of the threat of missile attacks without turning into Kiev? How much can Tehran? We should have asked ourselves that before we set off for Natanz, not when the pilots returned crowned with glory. This is not about spoiling the fun, but about sobering up on reality, especially the past, from which Israel refuses to learn any lessons. Has any war ever made this country stronger? Have we fought any war without an alternative solution? The campaign against Iran could turn into a war unlike any we have ever seen. The only and slim chance of an early exit depends largely on the capricious president in Washington. This is the most dangerous war in Israel’s history. It may be a war we will regret like never before.
(Haaretz; Peščanik.net, translation from Hebrew by Alma Ferhat)
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