On Russian roulette – Amos Harel in Haaretz:

‘For many months, Israel has been playing a sort of Russian roulette in the north. Many thousands of rockets and hundreds of drones have been launched by Hezbollah at communities in the Galilee and Golan, so far not causing an incident with mass casualties.
Statistics gave way on Saturday afternoon, in a soccer pitch in the Druze village of Majdal Shams, on the slopes of Mount Hermon. Twelve children and teenagers were killed by a heavy Falaq rocketlaunched by Hezbollah. Another 29 people were injured, some of them seriously.’

(…)

‘After hours of deliberations and delays, his office announced that "Netanyahu had decided to come back as quickly as possible." Expressing condolences for the deaths of the youths in the Golan was left, as is usual recently, for the IDF spokesman. Dealing with failures is not something Netanyahu does.
Throughout the war with Hamas, Israel took care to manage the confrontation with Hezbollah as a secondary arena. At the war's start, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and some senior IDF officers pushed for a pre-emptive strike against Hezbollah, but Netanyahu was reluctant to do so, partly due to heavy American pressure.’

(…)

‘In the absence of a real Israeli strategy, the assassinations were marketed as an appropriate response to Hezbollah's aggressiveness. In practice, their impact is unclear.’

(…)

‘And yet, the chances of a breakthrough in the negotiations are not good. On the contrary: The entire leadership of the defense establishment in Israel share the concern that the prime minister's latest steps are meant to ensure that no progress can be made in the near future. It appears Netanyahu is preparing the ground for another breakdown in the negotiations, with the escalation in the north only making things worse.’

(…)

‘Netanyahu is not showing any signs of rushing toward a deal over the hostages. It's obvious that the decision is in his hands, and that his main consideration is the chance for his political survival. The security cabinet, most of whose members expressed their support for the deal, is excluded from the decision-making process. In practice, only one person is navigating the process and he will be the one making a decision whose impact is almost as heavy as a decision on launching a war.’

(…)

‘Even if his coalition collapses somehow, it appears he is not far from achieving his ambition – to delegitimize any political partnership with the United Arab List, thus preventing his rivals from forming a coalition without Likud and ensuring another paralyzing tie in the next election, when it finally arrives.’

(…)

‘It's sad to say this, but the opportunity may have already been missed.’

Read the article here.
Once again, Israel has no strategy, and Netanyahu may have already succeeded in sabotaging Israel’s politics, even after this departure. Not that so much sabotage was needed.

The window of opportunity closed, Netanyahu and Hamas won, the others lost.

An all-out war between Hezbollah and Israel might not happen yet, but with Russian roulette the rule is clear: once in a while the bullet is there.

Just watch The Deer Hunter.