On April 11, as a tenuous cease-fire took hold between the United States and Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video claiming “historic achievements” for his war strategy. But critics at home and abroad saw things differently. Israel’s deadly April 8 strike on central Beirut—labeled “Bloody Wednesday” by horrified Lebanese—came in open defiance of the U.S.-Iranian cease-fire. Israelis across the spectrum express exhaustion and frustration at permanent war that never seems to produce either victory or security and that often seems aimed more at protecting Netanyahu’s political career than the country.

But Israelis’ frustration is about more than just Netanyahu. It represents the failure of an ambitious government strategy of regional transformation through unfettered military intervention after the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023. Israel’s steady expansion of targets and the intensity of airstrikes aimed not simply to manage conflicts but to end them: the total destruction of Hamas, the disarmament of Hezbollah, regime change or state collapse in Iran. In each theater, outright victory has eluded Israel despite unprecedented and extreme violence, the shattering of norms and international law, and the infliction of excessive human suffering. Netanyahu’s claims of success based on degrading the capability of adversaries is in reality an admission of defeat—a return to the very doctrine he hoped to abandon—and a disturbing indicator of where Israeli policy may go in the coming days.

On April 11, as a tenuous cease-fire took hold between the United States and Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video claiming “historic achievements” for his war strategy. But critics at home and abroad saw things differently. Israel’s deadly April 8 strike on central Beirut—labeled “Bloody Wednesday” by horrified Lebanese—came in open defiance of the U.S.-Iranian cease-fire. Israelis across the spectrum express exhaustion and frustration at permanent war that never seems to produce either victory or security and that often seems aimed more at protecting Netanyahu’s political career than the country.

But Israelis’ frustration is about more than just Netanyahu. It represents the failure of an ambitious government strategy of regional transformation through unfettered military intervention after the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023. Israel’s steady expansion of targets and the intensity of airstrikes aimed not simply to manage conflicts but to end them: the total destruction of Hamas, the disarmament of Hezbollah, regime change or state collapse in Iran. In each theater, outright victory has eluded Israel despite unprecedented and extreme violence, the shattering of norms and international law, and the infliction of excessive........

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