A war of necessity or a war of choice, preemptive or defensive, militarily savvy or strategically and diplomatically reckless – Israel’s war on Iran arguably might be a little bit of all these.

Whatever the justification for war, the reasons appear to have changed almost daily for the past two weeks – sitting here in communal bomb shelters day after day in Tel Aviv, there is little doubt from the conversations around me that Israelis are fully supportive of this latest conflict with Iran.

Despite the psychological stress of war and the unpopularity of the government, an opinion poll published since the war started found 81 percent of Israelis said that they support the preemptive strike on Iran. That total includes 93% of the country’s Jews, but just 26% of the Palestinian and Arab citizens.

These figures, while astonishing, are not surprising. The entire Israeli political establishment, including the three main television news stations, has supported the government’s decision to strike Iran from day one.

The Israeli opposition had, within hours of the start of the war, come out in full support of Netanyahu. Frankly, when Iranian missiles are raining down on Israeli cities, to do anything less would be political suicide. Opposition leader Yair Lapid, a longtime critic of Bibi Netanyahu, was recently quoted as saying, “There is no [governing] coalition or opposition in Israel.”

It is understandable that Israelis might feel this is an existential war of existence. But watching the evening news all this week, one is struck by the too often absence of meaningful political........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)