Israel pushes for renewed conflict with Iran despite US ceasefire efforts

While the United States has stepped back from threats to resume airstrikes on Iran if Tehran refuses a peace deal, Israel's political establishment is reportedly eager to return to war.

Shimon Riklin, a host on the right-wing Channel 14, revealed seemingly secret plans for a new attack on Tehran, including the location of a uranium storage facility he claimed could be targeted. Israeli lawmakers strongly criticized Riklin's disclosures, prompting the host to say his comments were hypothetical.

Despite broad consensus that Israel wants to resume fighting, the country can hardly do so without US approval. Reports of a phone call between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump regarding Washington's efforts to secure a ceasefire despite Israeli concerns suggest the Israeli leader was impatient.

This week, Israeli media reported that Netanyahu convened a second meeting of the security cabinet to discuss resuming the conflict with Iran. Despite billions of dollars worth of Israeli and US weapons used to attack Iran, the government in Tehran remains intact.

Iran's deterrence strategy, including attacks on regional states and a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, has dampened US appetite for restarting a costly and potentially prolonged war against Tehran.

For Netanyahu, the April 8 ceasefire—agreed with little Israeli input—has proven politically costly and alarmed a public accustomed to viewing Iran as an existential threat. Opposition leader Yair Lapid and former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett have used the ceasefire as a political tool to attack Netanyahu. Lapid described the truce as one of the "greatest political disasters in Israel's history," a view that appears to align with Israeli public opinion.

A poll conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute in early May found that a majority of Israelis believe ending the Iran war prematurely runs counter to their security interests, and a similar share think the likelihood of resuming conflict is high. Israel's political and public spheres have long treated Iran as the primary enemy. According to Haggai Ram of Ben-Gurion University, both politicians and the public have been "brainwashed" into viewing Iran as the ultimate foe. Israelis have been trained to see war as inevitable, as reflected in their calm demeanor when Iranian missiles fall.

Many Israelis are accustomed to Netanyahu defying political norms. In 2022, he won despite corruption charges. He has distanced himself from the security failure of October 7, 2023, and gained credibility, though he officially denies it, for allegedly manipulating Trump into the Iran war. Former Israeli Ambassador Alon Pinkas cited three reasons Netanyahu wants to resume war: to distance himself from October 7 and secure a major strategic victory; the war remains unfinished, with Israel not having achieved its goals; and a win over Iran is needed to prepare for elections in August.

Iran's seizure of the Strait of Hormuz, causing global market chaos, and attacks on neighboring countries appear to be consequences Netanyahu did not foresee when starting the conflict. Israel's failure in the Iran war is expected to be a key topic of debate in the August general election.

Weeks after the April 8 ceasefire, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz boasted that once the US gives the green light, Israel is ready to bomb Iran "back to the Stone Age," indicating the government's eagerness to resume hostilities. Former Israeli government adviser Daniel Levy noted two schools of thought: one wants to cut losses and withdraw; another, led by Netanyahu, wants to escalate and use all US weapons to destroy Iran. However, despite broad support, Netanyahu remains constrained. Levy said: "This stops when the US says stop."