Former Israeli Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg has delivered a blunt assessment of Israel’s military and political trajectory, declaring that Israel failed to achieve its objectives in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran, while warning that the continuation of war is pushing the state towards strategic collapse.
Writing in the Hebrew outlet Walla, Burg argued that “sometimes the only way to win is to know how to lose”, describing Israel’s current condition as a deepening crisis built on illusion, exhaustion and political denial.
“Israel Did Not Win on Any Front”
Burg wrote that many wars, particularly those fought by Israel since 1967, involved tactical victories paired with broader strategic defeat. He argued that the current situation is even more severe.
“Between Gaza and Tehran, Israel has not won on any front,” he wrote.
According to Burg, every arena of confrontation has become a draining quagmire feeding into the next, consuming enormous resources, taking lives and wasting opportunities that may never return.
“In Gaza, the occupied territories, Lebanon and against Iran, everything represents an accumulating catastrophic failure,” he stated.
“Absolute Victory” Turned Into “An Empty Performance”
Burg launched a direct attack on Israeli political rhetoric, saying the gap between the promises of Israeli leadership and the daily reality experienced by Israelis has become impossible to ignore.
He described the slogan of “absolute victory” in Gaza as “an empty theatrical performance filled with cemeteries, mourning houses and the ruins of life”.
He also said the promised defeat of Hezbollah had turned northern occupied Palestine into “hell on earth” for settlers displaced from the region, many of whom still cannot return to their homes.
As for Iran, Burg described it as “the great deception exploding in our faces”, warning that continued escalation would push Israel towards self destruction.
War With Iran Continues Beyond the Battlefield
Burg argued that the confrontation with Iran did not end when the bombing stopped.
Instead, he said its consequences continue damaging Israel and its allies through rising energy prices, regional instability and increasing global economic pressure.
He noted that the administration of Donald Trump now faces the same dilemma seen repeatedly after major wars: who will pay for reconstruction, who will maintain order after conflict and who will ultimately assume responsibility for the region.
He also warned that growing hostility towards Israel within the United States Congress and among the American public is no longer background noise, but an emerging political force.
“Every time an Israeli aircraft launches another mission, even if justified, it erodes what little political capital we still have left,” he wrote.
“Invest in Losing”
Burg argued that no form of decisive victory remains achievable under current conditions, suggesting instead that Israel should rethink defeat itself as a strategic path.
Using the analogy of two oversized sumo wrestlers leaning into each other with full force, he described how one fighter stepping back at the right moment can cause the other to collapse under the weight of his own momentum.
“What appears to be a loss for a moment may become the key to a real and sustainable victory of a completely different kind,” he wrote.
He argued that history is filled with examples of powers that failed because they refused to recognise when retreat was necessary.
The United States, he noted, won many battles in Vietnam while ultimately losing the war. Napoleon Bonaparte also failed because he continued advancing towards Moscow instead of recognising the limits of force.
Begin and Sinai Presented as the Strategic Model
Burg contrasted current Israeli leadership with former Prime Minister Menachem Begin, who returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt under the Camp David agreement.
According to Burg, Begin dismantled settlements, surrendered oil fields and absorbed the political humiliation directed at him by Israeli critics who accused him of surrender.
Yet decades later, Burg argued, that decision became recognised as one of the most important strategic moves ever made by an Israeli leader.
He warned that Israel today risks collapsing under the weight of its own inflexibility and addiction to permanent confrontation.
Direct Attack on Netanyahu, Smotrich and Ben Gvir
Burg reserved some of his harshest criticism for Israel’s current political leadership.
He described Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich as ignorant, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir as reckless, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as weak, detached from reality and politically hollow.
“Their entire political existence is built on spectacle and empty theatrics as a governing method,” he wrote.
Burg accused Netanyahu of prioritising image making over substance, while portraying Israeli ministers as figures driven by media attention and political performance rather than strategic thinking.
“Iran Will Remain”
Burg argued that the real alternative to endless confrontation with Iran is not merely another temporary ceasefire, but a political recognition that Iran exists and will continue to exist.
“Eighty eight million people will not disappear,” he wrote.
He stressed that ideological differences and armed groups across the region are realities that cannot simply be bombed away, arguing that the Middle East will eventually need to accommodate all regional actors or face endless instability.
He pointed to examples such as France and Germany, and India and Pakistan, as rival states that experienced devastating wars yet still developed channels of coexistence and diplomatic engagement.
According to Burg, dealing with Iran requires diplomatic mechanisms, both direct and indirect, rather than fantasies about regime change through military force.
“The Real Enemy Is Inside the Room”
Burg concluded that what he called a “calculated loss” is not surrender, but the ability to recognise the moment when continuing war becomes more damaging than compromise.
He argued that the real enemy is not necessarily in Gaza, Beirut or Tehran, but within the Israeli political leadership itself.
“The person deciding that only a bigger war can save him from the failed war he already managed,” Burg wrote, is the true danger.
He ended with a direct call for political retreat and internal change.
“One small step backwards,” he wrote. “Let the terrifying forces of today lose their balance and fall. Netanyahu first.”
