Former Knesset speaker Avraham Burg has said Israel failed to achieve its objectives in its war on Gaza , Lebanon and Iran , warning the country was sinking deeper into military and political disaster through its continued aggression across the region.
Writing in the Hebrew-language news website Walla , Burg argued Israel’s wars since 1967 had produced tactical victories but wider strategic defeats, saying the current crisis was even more severe.
"Between Gaza and Tehran, Israel has not won on any front," Burg wrote.
The former speaker, now one of the Israeli establishment’s sharpest critics of the country's various wars, said Israel was trapped in a cycle of escalating conflict that was draining resources, destroying lives and eroding international support.
"In Gaza, in the occupied territories, in Lebanon and against Iran - everything represents a disastrous failure that continues to accumulate," he wrote.
"Every arena has become a swamp, and they all feed into one another, draining enormous resources from us, taking lives, and wasting more time and opportunities that will never return."
Burg sharply criticised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his government, accusing them of promoting illusions of "absolute victory" while leading the country towards collapse.
"The 'absolute victory' in Gaza has become a hollow farce filled with graves, mourning houses and the wreckage of life," he wrote.
The remarks come as reports from earlier this year said that the economic toll from the war on Gaza is estimated to be at $112 bn, including $77 bn in direct defence costs.
Burg also argued that Israel’s confrontation with Iran had backfired strategically, saying the consequences of the war continued long after the bombing campaign ended.
"The war with Iran did not end when the bombing stopped," he wrote. "Its consequences continue to hurt us more than they hurt them."
He warned that support for Israel in the US was steadily eroding.
"The resentment toward Israel in Congress and among the American public is not background noise, but a political force taking shape and becoming threatening," Burg wrote.
The former Knesset speaker argued Israel needed to abandon the pursuit of total military victory and instead adopt what he described as a strategy of "calculated defeat".
"Sometimes the only way to win is to know how to lose," he wrote. Using the analogy of two sumo wrestlers pushing against each other, Burg argued that stepping back at the right moment could destabilise an opponent more effectively than relentless confrontation.
"What appears for a moment to be defeat is the key to a real, sustainable and entirely different kind of victory," he said.
Burg cited the US war in Vietnam and Napoleon’s invasion of Russia as examples of powers unable to recognise when to retreat. He contrasted this with former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin's return of the Sinai to Egypt after the Camp David Accords.
The former Knesset speaker also attacked key far-right figures in Netanyahu’s coalition, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
"Smotrich is ignorant, Ben Gvir is a reckless child, and Netanyahu is weak, frail and detached from reality," he wrote.
From his point of view, an alternative to endless confrontation with Iran was accepting the long-term reality of Iran as a regional power and developing diplomatic channels with Tehran.
"There is a painful truth narcissistic leaders refuse to admit: sometimes defeat is the only possible victory," Burg wrote.
He concluded by calling for Israeli leaders to step back from further escalation.
"One small step backwards. Just one small step," he wrote.
"Let the terrifying forces of today lose their balance and fall. Netanyahu first."