Israel Cannot Go On Winning Like This

Opinion|Israel Cannot Go On Winning Like This

In the aftermath of the Israeli attack on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, on Sept. 9, an unnamed Israeli official told Axios that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had so fallen “in love with being the regional bully that nobody can expect his next move.”

Indeed, Israel had demonstrated over the past two years both its unmatched intelligence capacity and its willingness to strike anywhere in the region — including, in Qatar’s case, a country that is not an enemy state, that is operating as a mediator and that also happens to be an ally of its biggest patron. What’s more, it was willing to do so amid negotiations aimed at ending the war in Gaza and bringing Israeli hostages home.

Since the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has ostensibly been focused on re-establishing its security in the region, both by rebuilding its ability to deter adversaries and dismantling their military capabilities, but also by being willing to engage in perpetual war, a state of affairs that has transformed Israeli society and power dynamics in the Middle East. Israel has been brazen, unpredictable and, until the recent proposed cease-fire, all but unstoppable. In most arenas, it continued to use force without engaging in any viable diplomacy. The most notable example of this is, of course, Israel’s destruction of Gaza, which has made the strip largely unlivable, as some cabinet members openly intended.

Donald Trump’s proposal last month to end the war — which is essentially not a peace plan, but an ultimatum to Hamas — has the potential to bring about an end to the bloodshed and destruction of Gaza, the release of hostages and give everyone on the ground a chance to start healing. But its success relies on prolonged political engagement and sustained U.S. pressure on both Israel and Hamas.

Mr. Netanyahu has embraced the Trump plan as a win. Yet the security gains his country has made are fragile or debatable, and its international isolation may deepen. Altering Israel’s bellicose character is not necessarily part of the equation.

All of this should concern Israelis. Even if the war ends, there will then need to be a moment of soul-searching about the collective society’s responsibility for the years of mass killing and displacement. Palestinians desperately need this war to end. But so do Israelis.