Three Weeks Into War: What Has Israel Achieved-and What Comes Next?

In this March 20 episode of Tel Aviv Diary, Marc Schulman speaks from Tel Aviv after the first full night of sleep in days, a brief pause in a war that has now reached the three-week mark. With Iranian missile fire shifting toward Jerusalem, Ashdod, Haifa, and the north, Marc steps back from the daily alerts and asks the larger question: What exactly has Israel accomplished, what were the real goals of this war, and how does it end?This episode examines the military success Israel has achieved in Iran—eliminating senior leaders, destroying missile launchers, factories, and key parts of the regime’s military infrastructure—while also confronting the far more difficult political and strategic questions that remain unresolved. Marc discusses the uncertainty over regime change, the unresolved issue of Iran’s enriched uranium, the critical role of U.S. support, and the growing risk that Israel could emerge from the war having won tactically while losing ground strategically and diplomatically.He also turns to the home front: the exhaustion of Israeli civilians, the government’s failure to prepare the country properly, the lack of shelters in the north, the plight of small business owners, and the growing strain on a society that has now lived under tension, war, and political crisis for years. This is a wide-ranging and deeply personal episode about war, resilience, American politics, Hezbollah, Trump, Netanyahu, and the fear that success may prove far harder to define than anyone imagined. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marcschulman.substack.com/subscribe