Sorting through the noise on Israel’s current wars

Haaretz is an Israeli newspaper that has both English and Hebrew editions. The English edition unfortunately has most of its articles behind subscription. But because it’s willing to do actual critical reporting, even the headlines are sobering:

'Diseases Are Everywhere': Gaza's 'Catastrophic' Healthcare Crisis Is Worsening 04/14/2026

IDF Fire Kills Eight Palestinians in Gaza Over Past Day, Health Ministry Says 04/15/2026 (And you though Gaza was part of Trump’s Everlasting Peace Plan!)

Israel Doesn't Know How to Live Without War, and Maybe It Doesn't Want To 04/15/2026

As Iran War Dragged On, Israel Downed Fewer Missiles – and Cluster Missiles Wreaked Havoc 04/14/2026

Israel-Lebanon Talks Begin; Sources: Netanyahu Using Talks to Buy Time Against Hezbollah 04/14/2026

Declassified Files Expose Jewish Pre-state Underground Militia's Contacts With Nazi Germany 04/104/2026. (Wait! Say what?) The group referred to here is Lehi, also known as the Stern Gang.)

Israel Botched the Iran War – and Shattered Its Standing in the U.S. 04/08/2026

Netanyahu Ordered the War but the Opposition Sold It. Now Israel Will Pay the Price 04/08/2026

How Many Israelis Does It Take to Kill 300 Lebanese in 10 Minutes? 04/14/2026

Trailing in the Polls, Netanyahu Launches Another War: Restoring His Image 04/12/2026

The state of the current wars in Iran and Lebanon (and continuing military action against Gaza) is not giving Israelis much cause to celebrate. Linda Dayan reports on Israeli public opinion:

Jewish Israelis are dissatisfied with the government's handling of the war with Iran and are divided over whether it has improved Israel's overall security, according to a survey by the Israel Democracy Institute published Monday. …

According to the survey, just 38 percent of Jewish Israeli respondents rated the government's management of the war as "good" or "excellent." Among Arab respondents, however, approval was lower, at 10 percent.

The data also shows variation within supporters of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right coalition. Among voters for Netanyahu's Likud party, 59 percent gave the government high marks, the lowest rate among coalition parties. (1)

Like all public opinion polls, it’s always good to pay attention to what they are actually showing. For instance, “I disapprove of the government’s handling of the war” may mean that they think it’s a war in which their government shouldn’t be involved. Or it may mean they think the government isn’t prosecuting the war aggressively enough. Or both at the same time.

During the Vietnam War in the US, it became common for people to say, “We never should have been there in the first place. But now that we are there, we should go ahead and win it.” This was a classic Mugwump kind of position. If the US never should have been there, why should it be there now just because it made a bad decision to put in all those soldiers? And, of course, what would “win it” mean in that case? Unconditional surrender of North Vietnam?

But actually, that’s a lazy way to try to sound harmlessly centrist. Then and now.

That’s also why an approve/disapprove question in an opinion poll is hard to interpret. Generally, there is broad support in Israel for the illegal wars on Iran and Lebanon. So depending on the wording of the poll, “disapprove” could include a large of people who “disapprove” because the wars aren’t being pursued even more aggressively.

The main leader of the Israeli opposition, Jair Lapid of the “centrist” party Yesh Atid, enthusiastically supports the wars.

The politics of the wars internationally shows that Israel’s support in the US and Europe has seriously dropped. That doesn’t mean that it won’t rise again later. Time and Israel’s actual policies will tell.

The Christian Post, which speaks to a conservative to very conservative Protestant audience, ran an article recently which is basically a rote summary of pro-war, pro-Netanyahu talking points. The article is titled, “Yes, anti-Zionism is antisemitism.” (2) This is a theme that Israel has been pushing for decades. There has been a lot of excellent analysis in the last three years discussing the ways in which that slogan is dishonest. Because criticizing Israel’s foreign policy – especially when they practice genocide as they have been doing in Gaza since 2023 – is not equivalent to antisemitism.

Antisemites do attack Israel and consider Israel part of their fantasized World Jewish Conspiracy. But it’s dishonest to dismiss legitimate criticisms of Israel’s government and its actions as antisemitic. And in fact, American Christians like the late Pat Robertson and John Hagee of the Christian United For Israel (CUFI) group promote an End Times theology that is not only bad Christian theology.

It’s also based on a view of the divine march of history that Jewish critics have been rightly pointing out for years is about as antisemitic as it gets. Because most versions of it promote the idea that before Jesus can come again, all the Jews of the world will be “gathered” into Israel, where most of them will be slaughtered in a big war. And the survivors will all convert to Christianity, and the world will finally be free of Jews. And, yes, Israel actively encourages these Christian Zionist kooks. The current US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, is one of them. He recently promoted an extreme Greater Israel view in an interview – not very diplomatically smooth for an US ambassador who should be taking his job seriously. (3)

The Christian Post includes this stock peace of knee-jerk support for Israel’s wars:

Israel stands alone as the only country on earth whose right to exist is routinely denied by people who claim to only oppose its policies. Many people frequently disagree with America, but this sentiment is never followed by the absolution of the nation. You never hear, “I don’t hate the Iranians, just their right to self-determination,” or the same statement applied to the Russians, French, or Brazilians. This selective standard exposes the deeper issue. [my emphasis]

I think the writer probably meant to say “abolition” instead of “absolution.” “Absolution” is what Catholic priests give to people who confess their sins, i.e., forgiveness.

The story has various other pieces of stock defenses of Israel that we hear again and again and again. Not that it makes any difference to people who repeat such statement on podcasts and legacy TV news, but Israel is a member of the United Nations and is formally recognized by 164 countries (nine of them have “suspended” their recognition) and not recognized by 23. (4)

And, by the way, the government of China does not recognize Taiwan as a separate country – technically the US doesn’t either. North and South Korea are both UN members, but they both consider Korea to be a single country.

Notes:

(1) Dayan, Linda (2026): Most Israelis Disapprove of Government's Handling of Iran War, Survey Shows. Haaretz 04/14/2026. Gift link: <https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/israel-politics/2026-04-14/ty-article/.premium/most-israelis-disapprove-of-governments-handling-of-iran-war-survey-shows/0000019d-8a36-d290-afbf-aa76c9fe0000?gift=b057e7120263452fb0ea88b239ffa987> (Accessed: 20206-15-04).

(2) Huehl, Chris (2026): Yes, anti-Zionism is antisemitism: Why the distinction collapses under scrutiny. The Christian Post 04/06/2026. <https://www.christianpost.com/voices/yes-anti-zionism-is-antisemitism-why-the-distinction-collapses.html> (Accessed: 20206-15-04).

(3) Ghannoushi, Soumaya (2026): Mike Huckabee lifts the veil on US backing for Israeli expansionism. Middle East Eye 02/26/2026. <https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/mike-huckabee-lifts-veil-us-backing-israeli-expansionism> (Accessed: 2026-15-15).

(4) Countries that Recognize Israel 2026. World Population Review, n/d. <https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-that-recognize-israel> (Accessed: 2026-15-15).