2026-04-02
19 分钟Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a speech where he talked about the war with Iran.
Netanyahu connected the war to today's Passover holiday.
He compared Israel's attacks on Iran to the story of the plagues from the Book of Exodus.
In scripture, he said, the Egyptian pharaoh continued to harm the people of Israel despite the plagues.
And today, he said, the story of the war with Iran is no different.
Quote, the campaign is not yet over.
When that campaign started, Israel had three stated goals in Iran.
One was to reduce Iran's ballistic missile capability.
The second was to reduce Iran's nuclear capability.
And the third was to facilitate the conditions for regime change in Iran.
That means to facilitate the ability of Iranians themselves to topple their government.
That's our colleague Dov Lieber.
He covers Israel for The Wall Street Journal.
Haim, how achievable did these goals seem?
Two of those goals were.
More achievable, namely reducing Iran's ballistic missile capability and its nuclear capability.
But the last goal, regime change.
This was by far the hardest goal, in some ways a type of moonshot for the Israelis.
For decades, Israel has seen the Islamic Republic of Iran as an existential threat,
an enemy it has clashed with again and again, but that it 's never been able to overcome.