Alistair Crooke’s Conflicts Forum has compiled assessments from Israeli commentators and former officials painting a bleak picture of the war’s progress.
A former senior IDF intelligence official quoted by Yossi Melman in reporting under the headline “Israel Should Stop the War,” called for an immediate halt: “declare victory, announce that all objectives have been achieved, and cease fire. Just end the war that way.”
Eli Levita, former Deputy Director of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, said regime change in Iran “now seems imaginary.”
Analyst Ben Caspit reported under the headline “Iran Not Blinking” that Israel and the U.S. are already “tamping down expectations,” with Netanyahu quietly dropping regime-change language and constructing what observers describe as an alibi for the war’s failure to achieve its stated aims. “He is preparing an alibi for himself so that the day after the war, he can claim that Israel had done everything to pave the way for the overthrow of the regime, but the Iranians themselves were unable to do so.”
Former Military Intelligence chief Amos Yadlin confirmed that neither Israel nor the U.S. intends to deploy ground troops in Iran, while reporting indicates Hezbollah has maintained a relatively intact command structure throughout the conflict, as reported under the headline “Hizbullah Not Crumbling, Nor Collapsing.”
Nahum Barnea writes that “Netanyahu was the temptress, Trump the Dupe.”
If the Hebrew press assessments are accurate, the nuclear risk David Sacks raised is not theoretical.
