Another war without an exit strategy

During the failed war in Gaza, Benjamin Netanyahu has declared on several occasions that Israel is “just a step away” from victory. But there has been no victory, no use of diplomatic means to consolidate battlefield gains, and no exit strategy.

Israel set back Iran tremendously with devastating surprise strikes on Friday June 13, but Netanyahu’s declaration on Monday that “We are on the path to victory” could also prove inaccurate.

Israel seems to be again lacking both an exit strategy and the readiness to use diplomatic tools to cash in on the military gains, while Iran’s ballistic missile strikes on Israel are causing significant destruction and fear.

While the war is thus far popular among the public and political elite who see it as an unprecedented opportunity to remove an existential threat that would be posed by an Iranian nuclear bomb, analysts interviewed by The Jewish Independent raise questions about how this war started, how long it will go on for, what the US role will be and what the prime minister is actually trying to accomplish.