The beginning of the end of Israel’s ‘permanent security’ doctrine
Destroyed buildings near a displacement camp, west of Gaza City, 26 March 2026
Meron Rapoport and Ameer Fakhoury write in +972 on 24 April 2026:
The name given to the deadly wave of Israeli bombings in Lebanon on April 8, launched as the U.S.-Iran ceasefire took effect, reveals much about Israel’s regional posture today. Until recently, Israel chose war monikers that would euphemize its overwhelming destruction or rally the home front. The 2014 “Operation Protective Edge” in Gaza, for instance, tried to convey resilience, while the post-October 7 “Iron Swords” campaign in the Strip and this year’s “Lion’s Roar” in Iran sought to signify military strength.
No more: with 100 airstrikes across Lebanon that left 300 dead and over 1,100 wounded, “Eternal Darkness” suggests that Israel’s only goal in Lebanon is death and annihilation. If in 1996, Israel’s killing of 100 Lebanese civilians in the southern Lebanese village of Qana brought “Operation Grapes of Wrath” to a halt, today, murdering hundreds is perceived almost as an end in itself, without even a trace of military or public criticism.
Despite the current 10-day ceasefire in Lebanon, Israel continues to raze villages and civilian infrastructure in areas of the south under its control — an attempt to create a permanent buffer zone and, as in Gaza, permanently prevent residents from returning.
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This “permanent security” posture was evident first and foremost in Israel’s war on Gaza after the October 7 attacks. When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began speaking of “total victory” just days later, the phrase was initially — and quite rightly — perceived by the Israeli public as an attempt to escape his responsibility for the failure. But it represented far more than a rhetorical exercise: the genocide, the ethnic cleansing, and the reduction of entire cities to dust and ashes were the manifestation of “total victory,” supported by the entire Israeli political and military establishment.