"Attack Donald, attack"; "Tehran is lagging behind in understanding reality"

Conflicts Forum’s compilation of consequential observations & strategic developments from Israel and from leading Israeli commentators, 20 February 2026

Ben Caspit: ‘Every Zionist Israeli should hope Trump decides in favour of a powerful and prolonged American attack on Iran’

“Attack Donald, attack. We are all anxious … Every Zionist Israeli should hope that Trump will decide in favour of a powerful and prolonged American attack on Iran … The current opportunity will not come again. This is a once-in-a-generation event, maybe even once-in-a-century. Removing the Iranian threat from Israel and Iran’s return to the family of nations are a game changer on a biblical scale. Not just for Israel. For the entire region”.

Ehud Ya’ari on Tehran’s “very stingy concessions”; ‘Tehran lagging behind in understanding reality’

“The Iranians, it seems, do not properly understand - at least until this moment - the degree of urgency they are ordered to take … But for some reason, the impression is that the leadership in Tehran is lagging behind in understanding reality, is overextending itself, and tends to take Trump and his emissaries lightly”.

‘The 12 day war proved Iran was a paper tiger. A plasticine power’ /

Saudi-Israeli normalisation “perhaps generationally foreclosed” /

‘Netanyahu met Trump last week with a citation from Genesis 18-19 in hand. He, like God, would hold people accountable for sin’ /

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar at the UNSC: “The claim that Israelis cannot live in Judea and Samaria is not only inconsistent with international law ... it is morally perverse” /

Anna Barsky: ‘The scenario of Netanyahu’s removal from power is moving further away. Opposition leaders are worried’

[These compilations are drawn from analysis & commentary predominantly by leading Israeli political, social and cultural commentators, mainly from the Hebrew press — as reports published in Hebrew often provide a different window on Israeli internal discourse].