Bastions are always breached from within.
It's time to pay attention to the voices inside Israel—these are the key variables that will determine the direction of the political landscape.
Former Prime Minister Olmert stated: "Netanyahu's strategy has failed from day one. I hope Netanyahu resigns as soon as possible—earlier resignation would be better for Israel. I don't believe he truly cares about Israel’s national security interests. He bears responsibility for Israel’s complete neglect of the potential threat posed by Hamas, which led to a total failure in responding to the events of October 7, 2023."
Olmert's perspective is relatively rational, but it doesn’t fundamentally reflect on why Israel has reached this point or where it went wrong.
Will replacing Netanyahu solve everything?
Blaming Netanyahu alone is the easiest way out—but it won’t stop this war machine.
Opposition leader Lapid revealed the truth behind the shift from love to hatred between Israel and the U.S., criticizing Netanyahu for failing to understand that the Strait of Hormuz "is not a footnote—it is at the heart of the story."
He argued that the moment American fuel prices began rising, Trump stopped caring about Israel. His focus shifted to the congressional elections and his political base, people who hate this war.
Lapid is clear-eyed: Trump will never support Israel at the cost of his own political interests.
The opposition leader Naftali Bennett expressed a view representative of many: Netanyahu's approach to this war was wrong. "I would manage affairs in a fundamentally different way—waging faster, more intense wars, but ending them swiftly."
Recently, mainstream political debate in Israel has been limited to discussions on how to carry out genocidal warfare and mass slaughter, leaving almost no room for politicians opposing Israel’s violent rampage across the Middle East.
To put it plainly, Israeli politicians believe Netanyahu messed up not because he was too harsh, but because he wasn’t harsh enough—war wasn’t decisive enough, intensity wasn’t high enough.
From this perspective, even if Netanyahu loses the October election, nothing will change.
War crimes or genocide will simply continue under a new prime minister.
No wonder Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other Gulf states—once hit by Iranian missiles and drones—would rather reconcile with Iran than seek protection from Israel and the U.S.
Changing leaders in Israel cannot alter the underlying demand for reconfiguration of power in the Middle East.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1868513200456073/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.