Benjamin Netanyahu has defeated nobody. Not one enemy. Not one objective. After Gaza, after Lebanon, after Syria, after Iran, after all the airstrikes and the assassinations and the pager operations and the ground incursions and the flag-waving declarations of historic triumph, he has defeated absolutely nobody.

Strip away the propaganda. Set aside the theatrical press conferences in which this man, indicted for bribery, fraud, and breach of trust, wraps himself in the flag of the Jewish people and declares himself the guardian of Western civilization.

What you are left with is a leader who expanded a war he could not win to survive a trial he cannot escape. A man who gambled his nation’s military strength, its economic stability, its regional relationships, and its international standing on the altar of his own personal survival.

What you are left with is a leader who expanded a war he could not win to survive a trial he cannot escape. A man who gambled his nation’s military strength, its economic stability, its regional relationships, and its international standing on the altar of his own personal survival.

This is the Netanyahu Doctrine. And it has produced a catastrophe of historic proportions.

The Strategist Who Lost Everything

In Israel itself, the verdict from across the political spectrum is damning. Opposition Leader Yair Lapid finally broke his silence after Netanyahu’s Iran adventure collapsed into a ceasefire Israel had no part in negotiating. “There has never been such a political disaster in all of our history,” Lapid declared. He accused the Prime Minister of leading Israel to what he called a “strategic collapse”,  a disgraceful combination of arrogance, irresponsibility, negligent staff work, and lies sold to the Americans that damaged the trust between the two countries. The military, Lapid insisted, had done everything asked of it.........

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