Netanyahu’s latest war has few critics in an Israel embracing militarism

Attack on Iran has widespread support, with little questioning of whether it is best option for lasting security

US-Israel war on Iran – latest updates

In June, Benjamin Netanyahu declared “a historic victory, which will stand for generations” after the 12-day war on Iran.

His decision to attack Iran again, less than a year later, was greeted with broad and enthusiastic support from Israeli politicians, including the prime minister’s bitter rivals, and a public willing to endure death and massive disruption to their lives.

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[Israeli security forces outside a wrecked residential building]

The site of a ballistic missile explosion in Tel Aviv on Sunday. A woman was killed and dozens injured in the attack. Photograph: Quique Kierszenbaum/The Guardian

The site of a ballistic missile explosion in Tel Aviv on Sunday. A woman was killed and dozens injured in the attack. Photograph: Quique Kierszenbaum/The Guardian

Analysis

Netanyahu’s latest war has few critics in an Israel embracing militarism

Emma Graham-Harrison and Quique Kierszenbaum in Tel Aviv

Attack on Iran has widespread support, with little questioning of whether it is best option for lasting security

US-Israel war on Iran – latest updates

In June, Benjamin Netanyahu declared “a historic victory, which will stand for generations” after the 12-day war on Iran.

His decision to attack Iran again, less than a year later, was greeted with broad and enthusiastic support from Israeli politicians, including the prime minister’s bitter rivals, and a public willing to endure death and massive disruption to their lives.

Few prominent Israelis have asked questions about why the legacy of one historic victory is another war – or whether the stated goal of regime change from the air is realistic.

After Iran acknowledged the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, had been killed, backing for the war deepened even as deaths and damage from Iranian attacks mounted inside Israel.

“The only thing I’m sorry is that we didn’t do it earlier, last June,” a 30-year-old Tel Aviv tech worker, Tom Yaakov, said as he inspected damage to his apartment building from an Iranian missile strike. “It’s like an Israeli story I can tell my children, the tyrant was down and my building was hit.”

That strike killed a 28-year-old Filipina care worker, who was hit by shrapnel taking her employer to a bomb shelter. Hours later, nine people were killed in a direct missile hit on a bomb shelter in Beit Shemesh.

Footage shows aftermath of Iranian strike in Beit Shemesh – video

Donald Trump and Netanyahu seem to share a world vision that substitutes military superiority, targeted killings and the prospect of constant war for international relations, negotiations and lasting treaties.

Khamenei’s assassination was a spectacular display of their combined military and espionage strength.

[How Israeli sleight and US might led to the assassination of Ali Khamenei

Read more](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/01/how-israeli-sleight-and-us-might-led-to-the-assassination-of-ali-khamenei)

But Israel’s spy agencies have a decades-long track record of taking out high-profile enemies, from generations of Hamas commanders in Gaza to the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in assassinations that did not destroy the groups these men headed.

By contrast, peace treaties with Jordan and Egypt, which brought lasting stability with countries once considered bitter enemies, are rarely celebrated by Israel’s current political leaders, said Mairav Zonszein, a senior Israel analyst at the International Crisis Group.

Those pacts’ crucial role in Israeli life was underlined in this war when the two countries offered the only route home for Israelis trapped outside the country when airspace was closed to civilian flights.

[A man in hi-vis waistcoat looks at his mobile phone while standing alongside the blown-out frontage of the restaurant. Inside, wine bottles still stand on shelves]

Municipality workers clear rubble from a wine bar damaged by the missile explosion in Tel Aviv. Photograph: Quique Kierszenbaum/The Guardian

There are plenty of regional examples from recent decades that could provide pause for thought over what can follow the death or departure of much-hated dictators, from civil war in Libya after the death of Muammar Gaddafi to the violent collapse of Iraq and the rise of Islamic State after the US-led invasion of 2003 toppled Saddam Hussein.

The Iranian-born Israeli journalist and activist Orly Noy dismissed claims from Trump and Netanyahu that the attacks aimed to support Iranians fighting for change in their country.

“It takes a considerable amount of naivety to believe that what matters to them is the wellbeing of the Iranian citizens, or support for their struggle to free themselves from this oppressive regime.”

But there is little mainstream questioning of whether Israel’s use of military power is the best way to guarantee lasting security, Zonszein said. “It’s perplexing why Israelis aren’t having that conversation enough. I think over the last 20 years, Israelis have just been less and less interested in these deeper questions.”

The public embrace of militarism is driven in part by Israel’s rapid economic growth and the expansion of its hi-tech military sector over recent decades, said Alon Liel, a former Israeli ambassador to South Africa and director general of the country’s foreign ministry.

Moment blast from Iranian missile damages Tel Aviv restaurant – video

“I often say it is impossible for Israel to live on the sword for ever, but there are very few Jews in Israel who think like me,” he said. “Forty or 50 years ago we were a very weak and small country in the Middle East. Israelis see ourselves now as at least a regional superpower.

“People say: we are not 80 years old yet, and look how powerful this country is. Look how our economy survived these two and a half years of war. And look at our skyline, and look at the sales of arms all over the world.”

Netanyahu has presided over that economic expansion and the military technology boom for much of the last three decades, and so is credited in part for both by many voters, Liel said.

This latest war offers him a chance to bolster his legacy and his political standing before elections that must be held before October.

Fierce domestic debate about responsibility for the 7 October 2023 attacks, which occurred on Netanyahu’s watch, was instantly set aside.

[Netanyahu speaking while standing on a rooftop]

Netanyahu delivering an address from the roof of the Kirya in Tel Aviv on Sunday. Photograph: Avi Ohayon/GPO handout/EPA

Killing Khamenei, a leader who called for Israel’s destruction and sponsored a network of hostile groups across the region, makes it easier for the prime minister to campaign as a hardline security candidate.

“For Netanyahu, there are two possible benefits that might be derived: a blow to Iran, and the possibility that this might tip the scales and usher him to victory in the elections,” Nadav Eyal wrote in the daily Yedioth Ahronoth. “Netanyahu probably does not draw any distinction between the strategic aspect and the political aspect, and that is putting things gently.”

Trump’s request for Israel’s president to issue a pre-emptive pardon for Netanyahu in a long-running corruption trial may gather force if the war plays out in a way that the US and Israel can claim as victory.

Some analysts sounded a note of caution that the war would bring election dividends for Netanyahu. “Despite all assumptions [Netanyahu] got no poll boost from the June war,” said Dahlia Scheindlin, a Tel Aviv-based political analyst.

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