At the start of the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran in late February, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the goal was to degrade the Islamic Republic's military, eradicate its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and create conditions for its overthrow. While Iran's military has been badly damaged, it is still a threat to neighbors and ships in the Strait of Hormuz — and other goals remained unfulfilled when a ceasefire was announced earlier this month, according to reporting by ABC News.
Israel's latest war with Hezbollah in Lebanon has also been cut short. Netanyahu said Israel agreed to a truce at the request of President Donald Trump but that the country was 'not finished yet' with the Iran-backed militant group; Israeli forces are still occupying a 10-kilometer- (6-mile-) deep swath of southern Lebanon.
The inconclusive outcomes come as Netanyahu's government approaches elections required by the end of October. The unresolved war in Gaza — another conflict where Trump pressured Netanyahu to wind down military operations — has stretched past 925 days since Hamas' October 2023 attack on Israel that triggered it. While Hamas is weakened, the Iran-backed militant group remains standing.
What the Right Is Saying
Netanyahu has defended his government's record, casting the Iran campaign as a preemptive success against what he called an 'existential' threat. 'We crushed the Iranian regime's destruction machine in advance,' he said recently.
Supporters point to concrete military achievements: Iran's military has been significantly damaged, dozens of hostages from Gaza were released through a ceasefire deal, and Hezbollah leadership was targeted during the Lebanon operation. The recent wars against Iran and Hezbollah drew broad public support initially.
Trump has continued to publicly back Israel despite occasional policy divergences. He wrote on Truth Social that 'whether people like Israel or not, they have proven to be a GREAT Ally of the United States of America.' Trump said he would host Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the White House in the 'near future' for talks on the truce.
An Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe private conversations said Trump and Netanyahu still speak every day. Late last year, Netanyahu announced he would award the Israel Prize — one of Israel's highest honors — to Trump, making him the first foreign leader to receive it.
What the Left Is Saying
Progressive critics and left-leaning analysts argue that Netanyahu's reliance on U.S. pressure signals broader failures in Israel's strategic autonomy under his leadership. 'After 925 days of fighting since October 7, Israel has failed to achieve decisive victory on any front,' wrote Yoav Limor, a prominent military affairs commentator. 'At the end of yet another war, it is perceived as a country whose decisions are not made in Jerusalem, but in Washington.'
Dahlia Scheindlin, a political analyst in Tel Aviv, said public sentiment reflects disappointment with unmet objectives. 'People were disappointed because it hadn't achieved the goals,' she noted.
Opposition politicians have moved to capitalize on voter dissatisfaction. Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid announced Sunday they would join forces for the upcoming election. Former military chief Gadi Eisenkot is also expected to team up with them — a potential challenge that commentator Nadav Eyal said could pose serious problems for Netanyahu if he cannot convince voters the wars produced lasting security gains.
What the Numbers Show
A poll by the Israel Democracy Institute, a centrist think tank in Jerusalem, during the first week of the war against Iran found 64% of respondents trusted Netanyahu to direct the campaign — a solid majority. However, a second poll conducted after the April 8 ceasefire found that Israelis rated the management of the war by the government more negatively than positively.
The post-ceasefire poll also found: a majority of Israelis believed fighting in Lebanon against Hezbollah should have continued; most respondents said there was a 'fairly' or 'very' low likelihood that any agreement reached between the U.S. and Iran would take Israel's security into account to an appropriate degree.
Israeli forces remain deployed across approximately 6 miles (10 kilometers) into southern Lebanon under the terms of the ceasefire arrangement. The Gaza conflict has now extended beyond two and a half years since October 7, 2023.
The Bottom Line
Netanyahu enters an election year with unresolved conflicts on multiple fronts and polling data showing eroding public confidence in his government's wartime leadership. While military operations achieved measurable damage to adversaries, the inability to claim decisive victory against any of the three main targets — Iran, Hezbollah, or Hamas — has created political vulnerability.
The emerging opposition alliance between Bennett, Lapid, and Eisenkot represents a coordinated challenge from figures with security credentials. Whether voters punish or reward the current government's performance will likely define Israel's political landscape through October's required election date. The stability of recent ceasefires and the trajectory of U.S.-Israel relations under Trump remain key variables in that calculation.