Israel is not winning: reasons for cautious optimism

JVL Introduction

The arc of history is no longer going Israel’s way asserts Dr. Ramzy Baroud who argues that a ceasefire has been forced on Israel – and, indeed the USA. He looks at Israel’s historic wars and the costs and notes that Israel’s military might is not succeeding in crushing its opponents and now it is becoming harder for Israel to separate out conflicts, not least because Iran refuses to concur with this and has demanded that there is a ceasefire in Lebanon and that the Palestinian situation needs to be resolved.  Israel’s failure in battle has forced it to, once again, turn to diplomacy but this is “Israeli ‘diplomacy’ (that) does not conform to the conventional meaning of the term. It is not negotiation between equals, nor a genuine pursuit of peace. Rather, it is diplomacy fused with violence…” 

Israel’s violence has not achieved its stated aims and “the longer these wars continue, the more they expose Israel’s inability to secure decisive outcomes. Yet ending them without victory risks a historic defeat—not only for Netanyahu, but for the ideological foundations of the Israeli state itself.”  

The reducing support across the world will also force Israel’s hand – and that of the USA.  There may be a terrible price for Palestinians, Lebanese and Iranian people to pay but this cannot go on much longer.

LL

This article was originally published by Palestine Chronicle on Thu 16 Apr 2026. Read the original here.