Israel is in crisis. Since October 2023 it has been in a permanent state of war with numerous internal and external foes, from the Palestinians of Gaza to Iranian state and society.
Many politicians, analysts and commentators have seen this as proof of strength. Building on the Israeli far right’s increased usage of the Hebrew trope of "Greater Israel" (Eretz Yisrael Ha-Shlema), they often talk of a Pax Israelica in the Middle East.
The term is telling in that it merely replicates the more familiar Pax Americana, for which Israel functions regionally as a bridgehead. If there were any period when the notion of Israel as a regional hegemon remotely made sense, it was the few years following the September 2020 Abraham Accords. Until 7 October 2023.
Since then, the Israeli military has veered from one conflict to another in successive failed attempts to crush its foes.
It decimated Gaza but Hamas is still standing. It famously "decapitated" Hezbollah in Lebanon but the group is back as a guerrilla force resisting Israeli occupation. The drone and missile stocks that former defence minister Yoav Gallant - wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity – claimed were all but destroyed are back in action.
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