IDF at risk of collapse – but Coalition prefers to “shoot” the messenger
JVL Introduction
There are not enough Israelis coming forward to fight in their State’s forever wars. Not only has Netanyahu failed to conscript those from strictly orthodox communities but more generally there is a growing number of soldiers refusing to serve in Netanyahu’s war on Gaza and now there is Iran and further deep and terrible incursions into Lebanon as well as the rising needs in the West Bank as settler violence increases while Israeli authorises more and more outposts. (The messenger under attack outlined his concerns as reported here in Ha’aretz)
Meanwhile people across the region are suffering (including Israelis) but with no shelters the people of Gaza and the West Bank remain extremely vulnerable and continue to be murdered; the people of Lebanon are being killed and displaced with promises from Israel to “make Beirut into Khan Yunis” and the people of Iran are being bombed by the USA as well.
Israel – and the USA – need to understand that people are not going to give up their rights, their fight for justice and liberation and Israelis are also growing tired as the consequences are, literally, hitting home. The sooner they realise that their position is unjust and unsustainable without great cost to themselves as well as those they are bombing, the greater the chances of ending these ‘forever wars’.
LL
This article was originally published by Ha'aretz on Fri 27 Mar 2026. Read the original here.
'Collapse of IDF' Coalition Accuses IDF Chief of Staff of 'Harming War Effort' Over Crisis Warning
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Death of the IDF, caused by the terrorist Israeli state overloading on murder.
Why would the IDF go in to defend Palestinians when the Jewish settlers have their utilities, allowances and more funded by the Israeli state of whom the IDF are willing tax payers?
I believe we should celebrate the fact that the IOF is failing, particularly in its “fight” in South Lebanon. Netanyahu in the past two weeks has issued the call up of a further a of 300K “reservists” to fight the Zionist`s battle on three fronts: South Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza. There is also the continued seizure of land and displacement by the Zionists in Syria as well as the attacks on Iran.
The Israeli / Palestinian “Resistance Solidarity Network” [formerly the Refuser Solidarity Network. https://www.refuser.org/who-we-are%5D is supporting the increasing number of young people imprisoned, for refusing to join the IOF, against the ongoing genocide, the occupation and apartheid. They report brutalisation by Israeli police, against anti-war and anti-occupation protesters, most recently in Tel Aviv. Although small in number, the movement is growing, as soldiers become weary and many have returned home in coffins or with serious injury and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
The Israeli Army is a rabble: a neo-facist militia, armed by the state, without rules of engagement and discipline. Its very existance is driven by an ideology, to justify murder, displacement and extermination of Palestinians and dissenters, even amongst its fellow settlers. Those families murdered, children shot in the head, those displaced, interned and tortured, wont shed a tear for the collapse of this vile regime and its “army”.
I so hope the IDF’s weakness and Iran’s successes in fighting off the war of choice launched on it persuade Israeli society AS A WHOLE to rethink their assumptions and preferred futures while there is still time (for the world, as well as for themselves). The “lone voices [bravely] crying in the wilderness” for peace, justice, reconciliation and humanity were always there – but their fellow citizens didn’t hear them because the counter-balancing forces were always too strong. That situation seems to be changing.
Over 90% Jewish Israelis backed Netanyahu’s war against Iran when it started. The latest poll (only 4 weeks into the war) has 68% Jewish Israelis supporting it – a spectacularly massive and rapid change in thinking. It’s too rapid a change to indicate a long term change in social values – though that may come. What seems to be making the difference now is that the mass of Israelis (for the first time in a long while) now know the costs of going to war for them and their loved ones.
Going to war with Iran has taught Israelis the air defence systems they’d trusted for decades don’t keep them safe – and if they get a 90 second warning to get to a shelter or safe room, they’re lucky. They experience the exhaustion and stress of night after night without sleep. Across of much of Israel, children can’t go to school and have to make do with perhaps 2 hours of on-line schooling; somehow parents have to do their jobs at the same time as caring for their scared, uneasy, bored children. Of course they want the horrors to stop.
Sadly, I think the horrors for everyone are likely to continue for months. There’ll be plenty of time to reflect on the wicked stupidity of national leaders starting a war because they (wrongly) believe the opponent can’t fight back.
Whether ordinary Israelis will or can force their government to make peace with Iran on the minimum terms the Iranians will accept is questionable. Peace terms will have to be agreed by all the parties before Iran itself (attacked twice within 9 months) agrees to any meaningful pause in the war or any let-up in its control over shipping routes.