The roads are jammed again, businesses are reopening and children have returned to their classrooms. In all but the far north of Israel, people have emerged from their bomb shelters and safe rooms.
But the 40-day war with Iran and the ongoing war with Hezbollah in Lebanon have left many despairing over how little they believe the fighting accomplished, particularly compared to what they had been promised, according to two new polls.
Regime change in Iran? Senior government and military leaders have been killed, but it is still the same regime.
The destruction of Iran’s nuclear program? Damaged or delayed, perhaps, but not ended.
The elimination of Iran’s ability to threaten Israel with ballistic missiles? Reduced, perhaps, but still a threat.
As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself told Israelis in a televised address on Saturday night: “They have a missile stockpile, and it’s getting smaller.”
Even now, as President Trump alternately taunts, threatens and tries to negotiate with the leadership in Tehran, Israel is left on the sidelines. It is forced to accept whatever Washington decides — as when it received a scolding for a furious wave of airstrikes on Beirut on Wednesday that Iran protested was a violation of the day-old cease-fire.
Barely a third of Israelis believe that when Israel and the United States disagree, Israel can act on its own judgment, according to a an opinion poll released Sunday by the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.
A separate poll also released Sunday by Agam Institute and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem found that three times as many Israelis see the war as a failure than a victory. Some 70 percent believe the cease-fire reflects an American concession to Iran, and two-thirds oppose it.
Many Israelis have become pessimistic, fatigued, disillusioned and distrustful of the information that they are receiving, the Agam-Hebrew University survey found.
It all adds up to a sense that this victory isn’t much of a victory at all, said Yaakov Katz, an Israeli analyst and co-founder of the Middle East-America Dialogue.
“What’s the Israeli story today?” he said. “It’s a narrative of a country that’s constantly fighting, and presents no alternatives except for more war.”
David M. Halbfinger is The Times’s Jerusalem bureau chief, leading coverage of Israel, Gaza and the West Bank. He also held that post from 2017 to 2021. He was the politics editor from 2021 to 2025.
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