On Iran, Israel’s opposition is even more hawkish than Netanyahu

In the rest of the world, the Israeli PM is often blamed for the Iran war. His opponents say he hasn’t been tough enough with Tehran.

From left, Israeli opposition leaders Yair Lapid, Naftali Bennett, Gadi Eisenkot, Avigdor Lieberman and Yair Golan [Getty Images]

When Israel launched a sweeping military assault on Iran with the United States in February, the Israeli government enjoyed overwhelming support from the Jewish Israeli public.

Opposition parties lent their support to the army and backed the audacious step. Enmity towards the government in Iran is an issue mainstream Zionist parties agree on.

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Then in June, Israel’s role in the confrontation halted abruptly with an announcement from US President Donald Trump, who said Iran and Israel had agreed to stop attacking each other.

That announcement – and Netanyahu’s decision to abide by it at the time – were unpopular in Israel. According to the Israel Democracy Institute , 65 to 70 percent of Jewish Israelis believe that stopping the war did not serve Israel’s national security interests.

As Israelis prepare to vote in national elections on October 27, Iran remains an important election issue for many. Opposition parties present Iran as an example of what they say are Netanyahu’s many failures. They promise to reset security and foreign policy if they’re elected.

The frontrunner, Gadi Eisenkot, says the conflict is unfinished. While saying that a change in Iran’s government was an unrealistic goal, Eisenkot accuses Netanyahu of doing little to dismantle Iran’s nuclear programme. In September at the inauguration of his new party, Yashar, Eisenkot told supporters: “Ultimately, it must end in the destruction or dismantling of the Iranian nuclear programme, a goal not yet achieved with 440kg [970lb] of highly enriched uranium already there, which could quickly be turned into several nuclear devices.”

Former Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who is now the head of the opposition in the Knesset, accuses Netanyahu of a strategic failure. He recently told the Atlantic Council that toppling the administration in Tehran is a realistic objective that requires a military escalation: “What Israel should do or the alliance should do is bomb all the energy facilities, especially on Kharg Island, but other places as well in order to make sure that the Iranian economy is demolished. And the reason is that it’s the only thing that will overturn the regime.”

Bombing this civilian infrastructure was actually something Netanyahu had lobbied for himself. An international outcry about such bombings likely constituting war crimes and Trump’s refusal to offer backing put the brakes on the plan.

Naftali Bennett, another former prime minister, says Israel must ensure its military dominance over the entire region. For Bennett, toppling the government in Iran and crushing it is a must. But he says that is not enough. The right-wing politician calls Qatar an “enemy” and says Turkiye is “the new Iran”, going as far as saying that military confrontation with the NATO member was inevitable.

“We will build an alliance of moderate forces in the region against the Islamist forces, against Iran, against Qatar, Turkiye and all the radical forces. We will take proactive actions to shape the region,” Bennett recently told supporters.

Eisenkot and other opposition leaders do not rule out renewed confrontations. They focus on their confidence in the military and security establishment in assessing the dangers and dealing with them appropriately.

But opposition leaders have voiced concern that Netanyahu might resort to military escalation before the elections to tilt the balance in his favour or even disrupt them altogether – even though the prime minister said last week that he did not plan to attack Iran before the vote.

Those fears were elevated after Netanyahu posted a video from the Tel Nof Airbase warning that Israel’s enemies might attack before the elections. Other news reports said Netanyahu has shared intelligence on new threats from Iran with the US president.

Netanyahu was quickly rebuked by opposition leaders, who accused him of “political fearmongering”.

Lapid openly questioned Netanyahu’s motives. Lapid also accused him of using the Israeli military and bases as “backdrops” for election campaign videos.

Ultimately, most Israeli opposition parties and leaders aren’t opposed to war with Iran, and many are in fact even more hawkish in their approach towards Tehran than Netanyahu. They just don’t want a new military escalation before the elections.

世界其他地区经常将以色列总理归咎于伊朗战争。他的反对者则认为他对德黑兰不够强硬。

从左至右：以色列反对派领导人亚伊尔·拉皮德、纳夫塔利·贝内特、加迪·艾森科特、阿维格多·利伯曼和亚伊尔·戈兰 [Getty Images]

今年2月，以色列与美国联手对伊朗发动全面军事进攻时，以色列政府得到了以色列犹太公众的压倒性支持。

反对党纷纷声援军方，支持这一大胆举措。对伊朗政府的敌意是主流犹太复国主义政党普遍认同的问题。

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随后在 6 月，随着美国总统唐纳德·特朗普宣布伊朗和以色列已同意停止互相攻击，以色列在对抗中的角色突然中止。

那项声明——以及内塔尼亚胡当时决定遵守该声明——在以色列国内不受欢迎。据以色列民主研究所称，65%至70%的以色列犹太人认为，停止战争并不符合以色列的国家安全利益。

以色列将于10月27日举行全国大选，伊朗问题对许多人来说仍然是一个重要的选举议题。反对党将伊朗问题作为内塔尼亚胡诸多失败的例证，并承诺如果当选，将重塑安全和外交政策。

领跑者加迪·艾森科特表示，这场冲突尚未结束。他指出，伊朗政府更迭不切实际，并指责内塔尼亚胡在拆除伊朗核计划方面几乎毫无作为。今年9月，在艾森科特新成立的政党“亚沙尔党”的成立仪式上，他告诉支持者：“最终，这场冲突必须以摧毁或拆除伊朗核计划为目标，但这一目标尚未实现，因为伊朗已经拥有440公斤（970磅）高浓缩铀，这些铀可以迅速被制造成数枚核装置。”

前总理亚伊尔·拉皮德（现任以色列议会反对党领袖）指责内塔尼亚胡战略失误。他最近在大西洋理事会表示，推翻德黑兰政权是一个现实的目标，需要军事升级：“以色列或盟军应该做的，是轰炸所有能源设施，特别是哈尔克岛的设施，以及其他一些地方，以确保伊朗经济被摧毁。原因很简单，这是推翻该政权的唯一途径。”

轰炸这些民用基础设施实际上是内塔尼亚胡本人曾游说支持的。国际社会强烈谴责此类轰炸可能构成战争罪，加上特朗普拒绝支持，最终导致该计划搁浅。

另一位前总理纳夫塔利·贝内特表示，以色列必须确保其对整个地区的军事主导地位。对贝内特而言，推翻并摧毁伊朗政府势在必行。但他同时表示，这还不够。这位右翼政客称卡塔尔为“敌人”，并称土耳其是“新的伊朗”，甚至断言与这个北约成员国发生军事冲突不可避免。

“我们将建立一个由该地区温和力量组成的联盟，对抗伊斯兰势力、伊朗、卡塔尔、土耳其以及所有极端势力。我们将采取积极主动的行动来塑造该地区的格局，”贝内特最近对支持者们说道。

艾森科特和其他反对派领导人不排除再次发生冲突的可能性。他们强调，他们相信军方和安全机构能够评估危险并妥善应对。

但反对派领导人表示担忧，内塔尼亚胡可能会在选举前诉诸军事升级，以扭转局势，甚至彻底破坏选举——尽管这位总理上周表示，他没有计划在投票前攻击伊朗。

内塔尼亚胡在特尔诺夫空军基地发布了一段视频，警告以色列的敌人可能在大选前发动袭击，这加剧了人们的担忧。另有新闻报道称，内塔尼亚胡已与美国总统分享了有关伊朗新威胁的情报。

内塔尼亚胡的言论很快遭到反对派领导人的谴责，他们指责他是在“散布政治恐慌”。

拉皮德公开质疑内塔尼亚胡的动机。拉皮德还指责他利用以色列军队和军事基地作为竞选视频的“背景”。

归根结底，大多数以色列反对党和领导人并不反对与伊朗开战，事实上，许多人对德黑兰的态度甚至比内塔尼亚胡更加强硬。他们只是不希望在大选前出现新的军事升级。