second Lebanon War

A portrait of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is placed on a table with drinks and food to celebrate his assassination, outside a supermarket in Jerusalem, September 29, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Killing Hezbollah leaders failed 30 years ago. It won’t work now

Instead of debilitating Hezbollah, Israel’s assassination of Hassan Nasrallah may prove to be a major PR boost for the embattled organization.

By Elia Ayoub October 4, 2024

Graffiti showing Hazbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in Tel Aviv, after Israel's assassination of the leader in Beirut, September 29, 2024. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

For Israel’s weary army, war in Lebanon is an attempt to salvage its image

Dystopian displays of technological prowess serve to distract the Israeli public from the military’s failure to achieve its long-stated war aims.

By Sophia Goodfriend October 2, 2024

Israeli tanks standing on the Israel-Gaza border while smoke billows from Gaza during Operation Cast Lead, January 14, 2009. (Yossi Zamir/Flash90)

10 years since ‘Cast Lead’: How Israel first declared total war on Gaza

The firepower, scale of destruction, and numbers of Palestinians killed during Operation Cast Lead were unprecedented in the brutal history of the conflict. Since then, the tactics used have become part of the IDF’s arsenal in its wars on Gaza. By Avihai Stollar Ten years have passed since the Israeli army changed the way it wages war,…

By +972 Magazine February 5, 2019

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Ehud Barak speaks at Haaretz's Israel Conference for Peace at the David InterContinental hotel in Tel Aviv, Tuesday, July 8, 2014. (Flash90)

Don’t call it a comeback: Really, please don’t come back

Ehud Barak isn’t the ‘only hope’ to defeat Netanyahu. He is, however, the most dangerous prime minister Israel has ever had. It seems Ehud Barak is planning a return to politics: posters have appeared calling on him to “run” (where exactly is unclear), and now even Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy reluctantly voiced the opinion that…

By Dimi Reider September 8, 2016

Soldiers from the IDF's Egoz Reconnaissance Unit, which specializes in guerrilla warfare in southern Lebanon. (Illustrative photo: IDF Spokesperson/Flickr)

Israel sells its story on a new Lebanon war, and the ‘Times’ bites

If you’re going to publish ominous warnings portending the killing of scores of civilians, shouldn’t you verify the grounds and ask why? In an article published on the New York Times website today, Israel sells the author, Isabel Kershner, the pretense for its next war: its claims that Hezbollah has dramatically beefed up its military infrastructure along Israel’s…

By Noa Yachot May 13, 2015

IAF fighter jet during an exercise. (photo: IDF Spokesperson)

Why Israel picks fights with Hezbollah

And why it will probably pick another one before too long. After Hezbollah’s fatal attack on Israeli soldiers Wednesday, the two enemy sides are in a rare configuration: they’re even. Israel killed six Hezbollah guerrillas and an Iranian general on January 18, so Hezbollah killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded seven more, and now they’re…

By Larry Derfner January 30, 2015

File photo of an Israeli air strike on the Gaza Strip (Photo by ChameleonsEye / Shutterstock.com)

Losing my faith in humanity: Six years since ‘Operation Cast Lead’

Somewhere between that Saturday, when the gates of hell had opened on Gaza, until the ceasefire 22 days later, everything I had known about human beings, about my society, even about myself had been blown to pieces. By Lilach Ben David It happened exactly six years ago. Three weeks of murder, blood and unfathomable cruelty…

By +972 Magazine January 17, 2015

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry shakes hands with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, West Bank, on July 23, 2014, before the two sat down for a discussion about a cease-fire in fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip (photo: U.S. State Department)

The time is ripe for a UN resolution on Gaza

With a ceasefire now in effect between Israel and Hamas, diplomacy can begin to take root. By Lolita Brayman A 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire between Israel and Hamas seems to be shakily holding, with a lull in rocket attacks and the deployment of the Israeli military to positions outside of Gaza. The IDF spokesperson officially announced…

By +972 Magazine August 6, 2014

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, President George W. Bush, and President Mahmoud Abbas at Annapolis, November 27, 2007 (Photo: Gin Kai)

Between bloody wars and peace offers: The end of the road for Ehud Olmert

The former prime minister was sentenced to six years in prison. Olmert will appeal to the Supreme Court, but his return to power seems unlikely. Prior to the last elections, Ehud Olmert was still mulling his return to politics. The long deliberation ended with nothing, as the circumstances didn’t seem right: his trials were still under way,…

By Noam Sheizaf May 13, 2014

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (TzipiLivni/CC BY NC SA 2.0)

Ehud Olmert is going to jail for the wrong crimes

During his premiership, Ehud Olmert was responsible for two of the most horrific military operations of the past decade. More than 1,000 Lebanese, a third of them civilians, and 165 Israelis, a quarter of them civilians, were killed in the Second Lebanon War. In the wake of the war, the IDF developed the Dahiya doctrine,…

By Haggai Matar May 13, 2014

Soldiers from the IDF's Egoz Reconnaissance Unit, which specializes in guerrilla warfare in southern Lebanon. (Illustrative photo: IDF Spokesperson/Flickr)

Israel’s ‘war between wars’ backfires

A self-fulfilling prophecy is playing out in the north. After nearly eight years of quiet, Israel’s northern border got stormy over the past week. The culmination of the tit-for-tat violence was a bomb placed on the border with Syria that wounded four Israeli soldiers, one seriously, which was followed by an Israeli air strike on…

By Larry Derfner March 21, 2014

Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (US Gov't Work)

His finest hours: On Sharon’s murderous legacy

From the Qibya massacre, to Sabra and Shatila and the dirty tricks, lies and deceptions that made the West Bank settlements what they are today, Ariel Sharon has caused unimaginable damage to Israel, its army, morality, and political life. (Translated by Sol Salbe) On Saturday night, as soon as Ariel Sharon’s death became known, our hyperactive education…

By Yossi Gurvitz January 13, 2014

Tzipi Livni (photo: Yotam Ronen / Activestills.org)

A real alternative? Tzipi Livni is far worse than Netanyahu

Despite her direct responsibility for two wars which took the lives of 2,000 civilians, and her uncompromising, hawkish positions during negotiations with the Palestinians, Tzipi Livni is still considered an acceptable choice for the Israeli ‘peace camp.’ It is time for the public to stop believing the lies. By Idan Landau On November 27, 2012,…

By +972 Magazine January 12, 2013