ISRAEL HAYOM (by agreement with JNS)
Netanyahu cools talk of regime collapse in Iran
Amit Segal
March 26, 2026

It is tempting to try to assess what to expect from negotiations between the United States and Iran based on previous rounds between the two sides. But perhaps the better lesson comes from another corner of the Middle East: Gaza. There, as here, Trump used the exact same threat on the enemy (“to open the gates of hell on them”), and there too Israel suddenly discovered that he was conducting direct negotiations with them. For many, this was proof that Trump had thrown Israel under the bus, that he was unstable, and other worn-out clichés. But the truth was different: Netanyahu’s Israel and Trump’s United States had the same goals, returning the hostages and demilitarizing Hamas. The gap was over the means. Israel believed in military force as the sole solution; Trump believed negotiations could also work. The US president was right, to Israel’s surprise. He secured the return of all the hostages while the IDF still controlled most of the Strip, leaving demilitarization for later. READ MORE

GATESTONE Khaled Abu Toameh: Begging Hamas to Disarm – The Misguided Approach of Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ Someone needs to inform [Trump negotiator] Mladenov that Hamas has already made a choice: to reject disarmament. Over the past few months, Hamas leaders have consistently dismissed demands to disarm and characterized disarmament as a “red line.” Hamas leaders have instead proposed long-term truces (5-10 years) rather than total decommissioning of arms. Another thing the “Board of Peace” and Mladenov do not seem to understand is that Hamas uses ceasefires with Israel to rebuild, regroup, and restock its arsenal and tunnel networks.  The tone of the latest US proposal to Hamas and Mladenov’s holiday greetings appears as if the Trump administration is pleading with Hamas to disarm. 

JINSA The Eroding Shield: Air Defenses Against Iran Although U.S. air defense systems have performed well, the defensive architecture shows signs of deterioration. Gulf nations and Israel both reportedly have warned that interceptor stocks are approaching critical levels. Meanwhile, fragmented national air defense inventories and Iranian damage to radars and sensors are degrading the regional air defense architecture’s ability to sustain effective operations. Air defense support from America’s allies from outside the Middle East have added marginal capability but are coming too slow to address the core shortfalls.

TIMES OF ISRAEL Zamir said to warn cabinet that IDF will ‘collapse in on itself’ amid manpower shortage Military Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir reportedly warned the “IDF is going to collapse in on itself” during a security cabinet meeting this week, as the army deals with mounting operational demands and a growing manpower shortage. “I am raising 10 red flags in front of you,” Zamir told ministers, according a Channel 13 news report on Thursday. “Right now, the IDF needs a conscription law, a reserve duty law, and a law to extend mandatory service,” he was quoted as saying. “Before long, the IDF will not be ready for its routine missions and the reserve system will not last.”