Israeli attack on Iran

Members of the Iranian Jewish community in Israel and others protest against the Iranian government in Tel Aviv, February 14, 2026.(Erik Marmor/Flash90)

Israel’s lonely push for war with Iran

Internationally isolated, restrained in Gaza, and unraveling at home, Israel sees another escalation as the only way to maintain its aggressive regional agenda.

By Ori Goldberg February 26, 2026

Iranians gather while blocking a street during a protest in Kermanshah, Iran, January 8, 2026. (Kamran / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images)

Iran’s protests strike at the heart of the regime’s legitimacy. Can they succeed?

The Islamic Republic has always shown creativity in survival. But this time it faces demands that cannot be defused with material concessions.

By Lior Sternfeld January 9, 2026

Israeli security and rescue forces at the scene of an Iranian ballistic missile strike in Tel Aviv, June 17, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Netanyahu’s Iran gambit aimed to realign the world behind Israel. It may backfire

For Iran expert Ori Goldberg, Israel overreached in starting a war with Tehran, and can only avoid getting bogged down by dragging the West into the conflict.

By Amos Brison June 17, 2025

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Destroyed homes in the Israeli city of Rishon LeZion, central Israel, after a ballistic missile fired from Iran hit the area, June 14, 2025. (Oren Ziv)

Israel’s greatest threat isn’t Iran or Hamas, but its own hubris

A people whose entire existence depends solely on military might is destined to end up in the darkest corners of destruction, and ultimately, in defeat.

By Orly Noy June 15, 2025

A woman watches the speech of Secretary-general of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah at her home in Mishmar David, September 19, 2024. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

What Israelis don’t want to hear about Iran and Hezbollah

For years, Israeli expert Ori Goldberg has tried to challenge commonly-held assumptions about the Islamic Republic and its allies. Will anyone listen?

By Edo Konrad September 20, 2024

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during UN General Assembly speech, October 1, 2013. (Photo: Kobi Gideon / GPO)

With tens of thousands of Jews living in Iran, why is Bibi calling their rulers Nazis?

A. He’s lying; B. He’s reckless; C. He’s both. If Netanyahu really believes the Iranian regime is another Nazi Germany, if he really believes its creed is “death to the Jews” as he said in his speech this week to the UN General Assembly, why does he heap contempt on the regime and its…

By Larry Derfner October 4, 2013

President Kennedy meets with Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko in the Oval Office. The President knows but does not reveal that he is now aware of the missile build-up. (photo: Wikicommons)

Cuban missile crisis, 50 years later: Lessons for Israel

JFK courted nuclear war with the Soviets, now Israel is courting a confrontation with the Iranians. But how can Israel contemplate starting a war against another country, a war that will not be negligible and could be devastating, for doing the same thing that it has been doing for over 40 years? I love it when…

By Larry Derfner October 21, 2012

Israeli and American flags (photo: flickr / hoyasmeg CC BY 2.0)

If Israel wants to end the race, let it get rid of its nukes

Iran didn’t start the Mideast nuclear arms race – Israel did. Nearly all the frightening forecasts of what life would be like with a nuclear Iran strike me as being hollow. I’m not worried about Iran nuking Israel – because the Iranians don’t want to commit suicide. I’m not worried about Iran giving nukes to…

By Larry Derfner September 9, 2012

Not even the IDF chief can stop a war with Iran

A leading Israeli defense reporter writes that Barak and Netanyahu have decided to attack Iran before November, and only IDF chief Benny Gantz can stop them. I say even he can’t. Channel 10 defense reporter Alon Ben David, who’s been covering the Israeli security establishment for about 20 years and is as plugged in up there as anyone alive, writes in Haaretz today…

By Larry Derfner July 9, 2012

My despairing fantasy of war

Nothing else has ended the occupation, nothing else is about to, so I’ve begun imagining that an Israeli attack on Iran will do it. Thinking rationally, I’m against an Israeli attack on Iran 100%, always have been. But over the last several months, a fantasy has been creeping into my mind – a desire that we start the war, and…

By Larry Derfner July 6, 2012

Blame Israel and AIPAC for a U.S. war in Iran

Israel and its Washington lobby have never dragged the U.S. into a war it didn’t want to fight. Iran would be a first. And if today’s talks fail, the countdown begins. I never went along with the argument that the Israel lobby, taking its directions from Jerusalem, pushed the United States to invade Iraq in 2003. Israel wanted the…

By Larry Derfner June 17, 2012

Sara and Benjamin Netanyahu. Who's in charge? (photo: Flickr / Πρωθυπουργός της Ελλάδας)

Lovely summer for a war

One of these lazy, sunny days, we’re likely to hear on the news that Israel has just bombed Iran. The question of whether Israel will soon attack Iran is one of those things where your senses completely deceive you. The more Israeli politicians and generals talk about it, the closer it seems, and the more fearful you become – but the bombast is…

By Larry Derfner June 15, 2012

Inconvenient truths. Netanyahu speaking to the Jewish Agency. (Photo: Jewish Agency for Israel, cc by-nd 2.0)

Through deal, Bibi buys ‘industrial peace’ for Iran war

It wasn’t domestic politics that prompted Netanyahu last night to forgo early elections; it was the need to clear out his calendar. Why does a national leader decide to scrap new elections that he and everyone else knows he’s going to win by a landslide, which is what Bibi did last night? Because he’s got important work to…

By Larry Derfner May 7, 2012