Foreign Affairs: Israel may be dragged into an unwinnable war

Graham Ellison and Amos Yadlin , authors of the American edition of Foreign Affairs, believe that Netanyahu's uncompromising approach could lead Israel to an unwinnable war .

According to the article, if any of the previous 13 prime ministers of Israel were in power today, it was clear that Israel would accept the agreement that was developed by itself and proposed by the USA at the end of May.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken's "final plan" for the Middle East includes many of Netanyahu's demands.

The deal called for a six-week ceasefire, the exchange of many Israeli hostages for even more Palestinians in Israeli prisons, and an Israeli withdrawal from settlements in the Gaza Strip.

The plan then calls for negotiations on a permanent cease-fire, the full withdrawal of Israeli troops, and the restoration of Gaza.

Netanyahu told Blinken he would accept at least the first phase of the deal, but later changed his mind and told negotiators he would not. What is stopping him?

At this point, if Netanyahu continues to reject the deal, the only obstacle to a ceasefire and the return of the Israeli hostages is Netanyahu's fear of personal repercussions.

Netanyahu: The end of the war in Gaza is the collapse of the coalition that supports him in the Israeli Knesset. and are worried that new elections will cause his defeat , the authors of the article say.

He is also well aware that there will be a reckoning after the war: an independent commission will hold Israel's national security giant responsible for the failure to prevent the October 7 attacks by Hamas, the biggest failure in Israel's history.

But instead of declaring a victory that would allow the Israelis and Americans to return the hostages home, Netanyahu fell into a trap set by Hamas .

If he does not declare victory now, he will continue on the path of strategic defeat, the article says.

Netanyahu's pursuit of "total victory" means continuing the war in Gaza at the cost of ignoring enemies on other fronts that now pose a greater threat to Israel than Hamas .

Continuation of the current actions in Gaza will not lead to the destruction of H AMAS, but will lead Israel to a long and costly counter-guerrilla war and escalation in other arenas.

Hostages continue to die, Israel's economy continues to deteriorate, its global standing continues to sink to new lows, and legal battles in international courts intensify.

In essence, the "total victory" strategy, the authors write, would serve Iran's goal: to draw Israel into a war that would result in defeat in multiple arenas at once.

Washington knows that the elusive pursuit of "total victory" in the Gaza Strip will lead to a wider regional war that could require American intervention, the last outcome it needs in the final weeks before the November 5 US presidential election.

Regardless of whether Israel reaches a peace agreement with the seven million Palestinians on land from the river to the sea, as well as the hundreds of millions of other Arabs and Muslims who live in the region, this peace will always lead to armed conflict .

But if Israel is dragged into endless, unrelenting wars with its neighbors , especially nuclear-armed Iran , its survival is at stake.

To survive, Israel needs not only a strong deterrent, but also an environment in which its neighbors prefer to live with it rather than fight it.