Should Israel Want a Bigger War With Iran Now?
Support for Netanyahu is rising, but wars are unpredictable and rarely end as hoped.
Fire sweeps over the Marjayoun plain in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel after being hit by Israeli shelling on August 16.
Photographer: RABIH DAHER/AFPAn overwhelming majority of Israelis say they want a cease-fire deal to get the remaining hostages in Gaza back alive. Most also say they’re unhappy with the government, and their prime minister is prolonging the war for personal reasons. So, as talks appear to stall and the risk of a another war — with Hezbollah in Lebanon — seems closer than ever, you might assume Benjamin Netanyahu would be in trouble politically. Far from it.
Netanyahu’s popularity ratings are back in the black this month, overtaking opposition leader Benny Gantz as the best man to lead Israel for the first time since the conflict began, according to a poll by Israel’s Lazar agency for Maariv, a daily newspaper. And when the Israel Democracy Institute asked if people wanted their country to expand the war to take on Hezbollah in Lebanon, the answer was mostly yes.
As I’ve written before, for Israel to open a second front by choice would force an unpredictable conflagration that’s likely to draw in Iran, the US and perhaps others, none of which would gain by it. Yet there is a substantial body of opinion in Israel that believes this is exactly the right time to force a showdown with Iran and the ring of proxies it arms around the nation. That’s unlikely to change after Sunday’s morning’s massive exchange of rocket fire with Hezbollah was followed by statements on both sides indicating they don’t intend further escalation for now.