Opinion: Worship of Force and Endless War Risks Undermining Israeli Society
In an op-ed published by Haaretz on August 21, 2025, Ariel E. Levite argues that Israel’s reliance on military might as the ultimate solution to its security challenges is corroding the nation from within.
Levite highlights that Israel is currently engaged across multiple fronts—Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iran. While the country has achieved short-term military successes, he warns that these victories mask deeper failures. Social, economic, and political dimensions, often more decisive than battlefield outcomes, are being ignored.
The essay criticizes the dominance of what Levite calls a “Spartan model” of governance, rooted in endless war, militarism, and the suppression of dissent. He outlines three critical shortcomings in Israel’s approach: treating force as the formula for victory, assuming society will endlessly bear the burden of war, and neglecting the need for political and social strategies alongside military ones.
Levite contrasts this with examples where nuanced strategies yielded durable gains—peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, normalization with Gulf states, and even temporary deals with the Palestinian Authority. He stresses that translating battlefield gains into political arrangements is vital. Without this, Israel risks losing legitimacy, undermining its economic stability, and fueling global hostility.
The op-ed concludes that maintaining a state of perpetual conflict threatens Israel’s future more than its enemies do. Levite, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Belfer Center at Harvard Kennedy School, calls for a reckoning with the limits of force and a shift toward strategies that combine military capability with diplomacy and societal resilience