Israel’s extraordinary achievements against the Iranian regime over the past week should be recorded with a simple truth: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deserves the central share of the credit.
Yes, US President Donald Trump made the call in Washington. Yes, the IDF executed with skill and courage. Yes, the Mossad and the CIA, alongside an entire Western intelligence and defense ecosystem, delivered capabilities that most countries only watch in movies, enabling Israel to effectively counter threats and maintain its security posture in a volatile region.
For three decades, Netanyahu has been the Israeli leader who has kept Iran at the center of Israel’s threat map – despite its unpopularity, the disinterest of world capitals, and Israel’s shifting attention.
This newspaper has criticized Netanyahu many times, for many years, and that will not change. Accountability does not disappear because a week went well. At the same time, a newspaper that demands responsibility during failure has a duty to acknowledge leadership during success.
Netanyahu’s Iran argument has been consistent since the early 1990s. Long before centrifuges and underground facilities became household terms, he warned that Tehran’s regime was not a local problem. He framed it as a threat that would eventually target the West, use proxies to destabilize the region, and chase strategic weapons that would change the rules for everyone.
He repeated the warning in Israeli politics, in Washington, and at the UN. He made it a signature issue across different administrations, different coalitions, and different eras of Israeli public mood.
This week, that long-running message collided with historic action.
Even Ben Caspit, one of Netanyahu’s sharpest and most consistent critics, wrote what many Israelis have been thinking: “No force in the world will be able to take the credit for what is happening away from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”
Caspit’s point was not that Netanyahu is above criticism. His point was that history assigns credit the same way it assigns blame: to the person at the top when the decisive choice is made.
That is why this moment matters. It is not only about a successful operation. It is about the rare moment when Israelis across the spectrum can say the same thing in the same sentence.
Netanyahu deserves credit for keeping Iran on the agenda
Netanyahu deserves it. He deserves it because he kept Iran on the agenda when others wanted it off. He deserves it because he pursued the threat through diplomacy, intelligence, and military preparation over many years. He deserves it because he took heat for being repetitive, for being alarmist, for being obsessed, and because repetition is exactly what national strategy often requires.
Leaders get mocked for warning too early, and they get blamed for warning too late. Netanyahu warned early, loudly, and relentlessly.
Credit, though, is only useful if it is attached to responsibility. Netanyahu’s supporters want a clean hero narrative. His opponents want a clean villain narrative. Israel deserves something more practical: clear-eyed recognition that a leader can deliver a strategic achievement and still carry responsibility for grave failures on his watch, including the October 7 massacre and its aftermath.
Israelis can applaud what deserves applause and still insist on accountability for what demands accountability. So, what should Israelis demand now, after praising what deserves praise?
Let’s start with political leadership that has to translate battlefield gains into a durable strategic outcome. A dramatic opening week is not the same as an end state. Iran’s capabilities, its proxies, and its ideology do not evaporate because of one operation.
The goal has to be a safer Middle East with real deterrence, real regional cooperation, and a clearer sense that attacking Israel and the West carries costs that regimes cannot absorb.
In addition, Israel’s leadership has to use this moment to rebuild public trust at home. Military unity in a crisis is not a substitute for civic cohesion, functioning institutions, and leadership that speaks honestly about what Israel got right, what it got wrong, and what it must fix.
Finally, Netanyahu should treat this as a moment for seriousness, not triumphalism. A leader who has spent decades warning the world about Tehran should also understand the next phase. The “day after” is where victories are preserved or wasted. Israel needs discipline, restraint, and political maturity, starting at the top.
For today, though, a straightforward sentence belongs on the record.
Well done, Prime Minister Netanyahu.