On bridges – Liza Rozovsky in Haaretz:

‘Despite the repeated insults by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his aides and his family, Macron continues his efforts to reconcile with his Israeli counterpart and persuade him that the French-Saudi initiative for massive Western recognition of a Palestinian state – the two countries also hosted a conference at the UN in July on furthering the two-state solution – is not a hostile act against Israel. The French, with Macron at their head, are also trying to reach the Israeli public with the same message.
A small expression of this was seen on Friday, when the French president formally announced the capture and imminent extradition of a suspect involved in the terror attack on Jo Goldenberg's Jewish restaurant in Paris in August 1982, in which six people were murdered. Macron even stressed that the suspect, who, according to a French source, played a key role in planning the attack, was arrested by the Palestinian Authority.’

(…)

‘The collective Western recognition of a Palestinian state – proposed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, with Macron volunteering to serve as the spokesperson – is the only initiative on the table that is a counterweight to the forever war that Israel is waging in Gaza. Last year, Spain, Norway, Ireland and Slovenia announced their recognition of a Palestinian state, and this year they will be joined by France, Australia, Canada and Malta, who all plan to recognize it at the General Assembly this week, and Portugal, who said it will recognize it on Sunday.’

(…)

‘All these measures, jointly and a large part of them separately, do not appear to be applicable in the near future. Even recognition of a Palestinian state by France, the U.K., Australia, Canada and Belgium is not expected to yield any practical results on the ground, as long as it depends on those countries and as long as Israel doesn't take any countermeasures. Western embassies in Israel are unlikely to move to Ramallah anytime soon. In this sense, the French success is no more than symbolic.’

(…)

‘What else will European and other Western countries be prepared to do if Israel officially annexes parts of the West Bank? It's reasonable to assume that there are pills the West is willing to swallow without choking, such as annexing the large settlement blocs, but other measures might pose serious problems. For example, a senior Western diplomat described Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's threat to cut off Palestinian banks from the Israeli economic system as an "atomic bomb."
The diplomat told reporters that the measure will crush the Palestinian Authority, which will have serious security consequences for Israel and on other countries. Nonetheless, here too, it's not clear whether the implications are that Israel will pay the price for the security chaos, or whether the countries will impose sanctions against it.’

(…)

‘Netanyahu will go to the UN when his and Israel's global image is at an unprecedented nadir. He will stand before the gathering of world leaders in a state of deep alienation from Earth. He sees himself as Israel's defender, but people across Europe, Latin America, and Arab states, where pictures from Gaza continue to flow to their mobile phones, see him as a brutal and cynical war criminal.’

(…)

‘Nonetheless, the only red line that the UAE and Saudi Arabia have drawn relates to leaving an opening for the establishment of a Palestinian state. In practice, these monarchies are not applying their full weight to stop the war in Gaza, and neither are the Europeans.
As Netanyahu prepares Israel's people to live in isolation, the surprising bottom line is that after two years of a bloody war with no diplomatic horizon, a long series of aggressive statements and gestures, and insults or disdain toward its neighbors and partners, the world is still far from burning its bridges with Israel. The UN General Assembly will give Netanyahu another opportunity to make amends. It's doubtful that he will take advantage of it.’

Read the article here.

Israel is more Russia in 2025 than South Africa in 1987.

So most symbolic measures will remain symbolic measures. It’s possible that a brain drain will cause Israel to come close to a collapse (a state with religious zealots and messianic fanatics and oppressed Palestinians might not be the most viable state) but then the Massada-complex should not be underestimated.

Downfall will be preferred to defeat.

But let’s assume on the eve of Rosh Hashana that this apocalyptic vision won’t become reality.