Ex-Israeli general warns the country could collapse in a year. Here is why

As Gaza ceasefire talks continue to stall thanks to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hardliner stance and deliberate obstruction, some Israeli and Western analysts warn that things could easily take a grim turn for Tel Aviv.

Despite the Israeli army relentlessly pounding Gaza for the past 10 months, killing more than 40,000 people, there are no signs that Hamas under new political leader Yahya Sinwar plans to surrender. The Palestinian resistance group continues to hold hostages and launch hit-and-run attacks on the occupying forces.

"The country really is galloping towards the edge of an abyss. If the war of attrition against Hamas and Hezbollah continues, Israel will collapse within no more than a year," wrote Yitzhak Brik, a former top Israeli general, who served in different capacities in the army for decades, in a Haaretz article.

"Israel is sinking deeper into the Gazan mud, losing more and more soldiers as they get killed or wounded, without any chance of achieving the war's main goal: bringing down Hamas," added the Israeli veteran, who provided one of the fiercest criticisms of Netanyahu's ongoing war on Gaza.

'The three pyromaniacs'

According to the general, attacks are mounting against Israelis in the occupied West Bank, the army is losing motivation and the economy is tanking. Internationally, pressure is also growing on Israel in the form of economic boycotts and a push for arms embargoes.

Brik said that Netanyahu, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi are all responsible for the country's failed efforts in Gaza.

He called them "the three pyromaniacs" for their razing of Gaza and reckless escalations with Hezbollah and Iran, which could widen the conflict into a regional war.

Brik also faulted the Israeli leadership for "the use of assassinations," warning that killing key Palestinian leaders such as Ismail Haniyeh earlier this month is a risky strategy and could "ignite the entire Middle East."

According to the general, the trio has no real idea that they are playing with fire and it is "irresponsible" to conduct assassinations in foreign countries ranging from Lebanon to Iran.

The Israeli veteran also lamented that while Jews were able to form "a glorious country" after their 2,000 years of exile, now it's "disintegrating" thanks to the fault of the three pyromaniacs and their "sheep" followers, who "blindly" support them. Additionally, he called Netanyahu a "dictator."

'Die with the Philistines'

Brik also described Netanyahu's war in Gaza as a suicidal decision. He alluded to "die with the Philistines," a reference to prominent Israeli scholar Omer Bartov's recent article, which argued that the story of Samson the Israelite, a biblical hero who fought against ancient Philistines, might be relevant to what the modern Israeli leadership is now doing in Gaza.

The Philistines were an avowed enemy of ancient Israelites, according to the Bible. They settled on the southern coast of Palestine more than 3,000 years ago, preceding the Jews. While there is an etymological connection between Philistine and Palestine, scholars do not think the Philistines survived as a nation.

Interestingly, Samson raged his war with the Philistines in Gaza, where he was eventually captured by his enemies through a trick, according to the Bible. Samson died dramatically after he made a last-ditch effort to defeat his enemies by making the columns of the temple where he was held collapse, saying, "Let me die with the Philistines!"

However, Netanyahu should keep in mind that Gaza was a trap for Samson.

Bartov argued in his article that Samson's fight with the Philistines in Gaza has resonated within Israel's leadership for a long time and it might potentially be motivating the Netanyahu government's endless warfare. However, its aim of totally eradicating Hamas has been found unrealistic by many of its own people, including former intelligence officials like Yoram Schwitzer, who called it "a stupid idea" to wage such a war against a guerilla force.

"Those gates of Gaza are lodged deeply in the Zionist Israeli imagination, a symbol of the divide between us and the 'barbarians,' " said Bartov, who served in the army for four years including a period during the fateful 1973 Yom Kippur War.

'Limitless destruction'

This Zionist imagination might blind the current Israeli leadership decisions in Gaza, the professor argued in his long read, quoting Carl von Clausewitz, a leading German military strategist, who famously said that every war is the extension of politics.

If any given leadership launches a war without defining a political objective (think about Netanyahu), it could lead to limitless destruction, von Clausewitz warned.

"The sentiment that now prevails in Israel similarly threatens to make war into its own end. In this view, politics is an obstacle to achieving goals rather than a means to limit destruction," Bartov said, referring to the Netanyahu government's undefined war objectives in Gaza, which has led to terrible casualties compared to other wars in similar scale.

But the professor also warned the Netanyahu leadership of the ultimate effects of the Gaza war on Israeli society, whose state of psychology he found "profoundly disturbing" during his recent visit to his country. The undefined warfare in Gaza "can only ultimately lead to self-annihilation," he said, alluding to Samson the Israelite's fate to die with the Philistines.

Brik was equally concerned with the ongoing war in Gaza, which he sees as a political tactic that Netanyahu is using to "retain his power," warning that "Israel has entered an existential tailspin and could soon reach a point of no return."