Vanessa, I think the idea that Israelis are pro-war is completely detached from reality.
If Israel truly wanted war, Gaza could have been flattened long ago. Israel has repeatedly demonstrated restraint and repeatedly taken risks for peace. The problem is that many of those risks produced more violence, not less.
What has changed over the years is not that Israelis became pro-war. What changed is that many Israelis stopped believing the illusion that giving up territory automatically produces peace. The withdrawal from Gaza is probably the clearest example. Instead of peace, Israelis got Hamas on their border, rockets, tunnels, kidnappings, and October 7.
Israelis haven't become more warlike. They've become more skeptical.
The old peace camp believed that if enough concessions were made, peace would follow. Many Israelis now believe that peace is impossible until the ideology dedicated to Israel's destruction is defeated or abandoned.
Israelis still want peace. They just want evidence that the other side wants peace too. After everything that has happened, that's not extremism. That's common sense.
Vanessa, I think the idea that Israelis are pro-war is completely detached from reality.
If Israel truly wanted war, Gaza could have been flattened long ago. Israel has repeatedly demonstrated restraint and repeatedly taken risks for peace. The problem is that many of those risks produced more violence, not less.
What has changed over the years is not that Israelis became pro-war. What changed is that many Israelis stopped believing the illusion that giving up territory automatically produces peace. The withdrawal from Gaza is probably the clearest example. Instead of peace, Israelis got Hamas on their border, rockets, tunnels, kidnappings, and October 7.
Israelis haven't become more warlike. They've become more skeptical.
The old peace camp believed that if enough concessions were made, peace would follow. Many Israelis now believe that peace is impossible until the ideology dedicated to Israel's destruction is defeated or abandoned.
Israelis still want peace. They just want evidence that the other side wants peace too. After everything that has happened, that's not extremism. That's common sense.