Why I won’t stop demonstrating in Israel

On June 25, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video statement in which he announced that Israel had achieved a historic victory in the “Rising Lion” war against Iran.

With his chest puffed out and a self-congratulatory smile across his face, Netanyahu declared “Israel had achieved all of the goals of the war” by removing two “existential threats — the threat of destruction via nuclear weapons and the threat of destruction via 20,000 ballistic missiles” that Iran was moving to build.

Like a mantra, he repeated, “Israel achieved all of the war’s goals. We are victorious.”

I feel defeated.

To be sure, the attack on Iran was probably one of the most successful strikes in modern history. Courageous, precise and deadly, some 200 Israeli fighter-jet pilots flew 1500km, spent hours in Iranian airspace and attacked dozens of targets in the capital and throughout the country. 

They assassinated Iran’s top military chiefs and nuclear scientists and destroyed all key facilities Iran had been using to enrich, process and weaponise uranium. Weeks or even months earlier, daring Mossad commando teams had placed offensive strike systems and technologies deep within Iran itself, to protect the Israeli aircraft.