Forever wars: Israel’s cycle of conflict shows no finish line
A poll shows 92% of Israelis believe the US deal with Iran has cost them victory, and nearly half support continued attacks on Lebanon and Hezbollah. Experts say the conflict cycle is fueled by political expediency and collective trauma.
Less than a week after Tehran and Washington signed a memorandum of understanding that brought the US-Israel war on Iran to a halt for now, Israeli public opinion has become clear. According to a recent poll, an overwhelming 92% of Israelis feel the United States has signed away their victory over a decades-old enemy. Almost half of those polled believe Israel should continue its attacks on Lebanon and the pro-Iran group Hezbollah, regardless of Washington’s urgings.
Since the surprise Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,139 people in Israel, the country has fought continuous wars across the region. It has committed genocide in Gaza, killing more than 73,000 Palestinians and razing large areas. Israel has attacked Iran twice, killed thousands in Lebanon while fighting Hezbollah, launched multiple ground incursions into Syria, and carried out sporadic strikes on the Houthis in Yemen, also Tehran’s allies.
Within Israel’s fractious parliament, support for the country’s wars provides rare consensus, even if politicians disagree on tactics. Former chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot described the attacks on Iran as “the most just war in recent decades against the most bitter enemy.” Opposition leader Yair Lapid also supported the attacks but expressed anger at Washington’s deal with Tehran, calling it “one of the most shocking failures of Israel’s foreign and security policy.”
Israeli sociologist Daniel Bar-Tal from Tel Aviv University attributes this sentiment to a process linking the 2023 attack with the central anchor of Israeli identity: the Holocaust. He notes that the “justness of national goals, glorification of the Jewish nation, and sense of collective victimhood” are ingrained in most Israelis’ consciousness.
Analyst Shaiel Ben-Ephraim identifies two main engines behind the seemingly endless war. One is the immediate political situation: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, facing elections and corruption charges, benefits from ongoing conflicts to avoid accountability. The other is a fundamental shift in Israeli consciousness following October 7. Israel’s military doctrine now aims to crush any potential threat before it emerges, dismissing diplomatic agreements. “No potential achievement will stop this pathology that comes from trauma and political need,” Ben-Ephraim concludes.
