As the diplomatic track pushes through the enforcement of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Iran and America, Israel continues to define its red lines, regardless of pressure coming from its allies or its enemies.\n<\/p>\n
Israel wants to make peace with the Lebanese government at this time, but not at the expense of more IDF casualties, which were high this week inside Lebanon.\u00a0 The IDF will continue to protect Israel\u2019s northern border communities at risk.\n<\/p>\n
Israel refuses to adhere to the demands of a ceasefire, until Hezbollah stops its attacks and submits to a ceasefire. There is also no indication that the IDF will pull out of Lebanon any time soon.\n<\/p>\n
Defense Minister, Israel Katz, says there is no restriction on IDF soldiers in Lebanon, and they will continue to act to eliminate threats. Following the latest attacks on IDF forces, Israel responded with great force, thwarting a large number of Hezbollah terrorists and damaging numerous terrorist infrastructures.\n<\/p>\n
Katz has reminded the international community that the lives of Israeli soldiers and citizens is Israel\u2019s top priority. He explains that the IDF is deployed and operating in the Security Zone, along the Yellow Line in Lebanon. He emphatically states, \u201cAs Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I have made it clear: Israel will not withdraw from the Security Zone in Lebanon.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not expected that this position will change until the Lebanese government acts to disarm Hezbollah, or until Hezbollah stops killing and wounding Israeli soldiers, and threatening citizens living in Israel\u2019s north.\n<\/p>\n
Lt. Col. (res.) Sarit Zehavi, Founder and President of ALMA research and education center, is a military expert living close to Israel\u2019s northern border. She explains what has led up to the current escalation with Hezbollah. \u201cThey played for the Iranians. Each time there was a lot of pressure on Iran to agree to what Trump wanted, Hezbollah escalated the attacks here. Then, the Iranians got more of what they wanted. That is how they got a deal which is very good for the Iranians, and very bad news for western civilization.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
The escalation includes attacks against Israel\u2019s northern communities, with the goal of causing citizens to eventually flee for safety. Without citizens living in their homes, Israel\u2019s sovereignty is threatened in the north.\n<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Zehavi explains how the IDF is operating in Lebanon: \u201cWe\u2019re not using force just to use force. We\u2019re using force against a specific target. If there is no terror, there is no use of force. It\u2019s very simple. Hezbollah is not an official army of the state of Lebanon. It\u2019s a terrorist organization following the orders of Iran, and its mission is to destroy the state of Israel.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Zehavi reminded this writer that it is Israel that was attacked by Hezbollah, when the terrorist group opened a war against Israel, three times in the past 20 years \u2013 in 2006, 2023, and 2026.\u00a0The ALMA center follows the actions of Hezbollah within the Lebanese population. Zehavi confirms that the IDF is not targeting Lebanese citizens, but terrorists. Her organization observes many funerals of Hezbollah military operatives, with coffins draped in Hezbollah flags, not Lebanese flags.\n<\/p>\n
Israel is also looking to strengthen Lebanon\u2019s sovereignty over its own land, which has been taken captive by Hezbollah, a proxy of Iran.\n<\/p>\n
According to Zehavi, there must be more actions taken by the Lebanese government to weaken Hezbollah. She suggests that Lebanese officials fire all officers that are collaborating with Hezbollah in the Lebanese Armed Forces; replace the head of the army who doesn\u2019t want to confront Hezbollah; close the schools of Hezbollah; and be responsible for all humanitarian aid, to displace the Muslim Shiite base in Lebanon.\n<\/p>\n
Zehavi also brings understanding about why it\u2019s so important for Israel to respond to every attack of hostile fire from Lebanon. \u201cIt disturbs life here. We cannot live in a situation where we are sent to bomb shelters within seconds of an alert, while the children are on their way to school. It\u2019s all small communities. In order to have a routine, we are driving on the main roads, and it\u2019s very scary to do it while you are under fire.\u201d \u00a0Zehavi adds that any attack that will cross into Israel and put citizens at risk, will result in Israel returning fire.\n<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s northern communities are close to the border and are under constant threat. \u00a0Hezbollah continues to plan to attack Israel, with its goal being an invasion, similar to what Hamas did from Gaza into Israel\u2019s southern communities in 2023.\n<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s way of dealing with its enemies has changed course, and it\u2019s unclear whether the international community understands why. \u00a0Israel, in the eyes of many nations, seems to be the aggressor in recent wars, with pre-emptive strikes against its enemies as a modus operandi.\n<\/p>\n
Brigadier General (res.) Erez Winner is the new head of the Israel Defense and Security Forum (IDSF).\u00a0 Winner has been an expert in military affairs and security doctrine at the Jerusalem Institute of Strategy and Security (JISS). He has served in key command roles in the IDF. \u00a0Winner was on the team of military officials that created Israel\u2019s new security doctrine, which was updated after October 7, 2023. He meets, regularly, with Israel\u2019s Prime Minister, Defense Minister, and the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, to discuss military matters.\n<\/p>\n
I asked Winner to explain the history of Israel\u2019s security doctrines, and what approach Israel is currently taking to overcome its enemies. He explains how Israel started with a doctrine of military force that would keep Israel safe, assuring that none of Israel\u2019s enemies would be able to destroy the land. Israel worked under a doctrine for the first decades of statehood that included deterrence, alerts, and decisive wars if needed.\n<\/p>\n
Later, in the 1980\u2019s and 1990\u2019s, with the culmination of peace processes and peace agreements (that included Egypt, Jordan, and the Oslo Accords with the Palestinians), things changed, and Israel developed a different strategy of \u201ccontainment.\u201d\u00a0 Basically, it meant that Israel was not looking to win wars, but to contain conflicts.\n<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s strength was in building technology, including creating different layers of defense (the Iron Dome, the Arrow, David\u2019s Sling, and recently, the Iron Beam). \u00a0According to Winner, \u201cUnder that concept, Israel was avoiding going into major wars, and tried to decisively end them; tried to push wars as far away as possible, and contain our enemies.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
However, the Hamas massacre of Israel\u2019s southern communities in 2023, forced a change in Israel\u2019s military doctrine that was unplanned. Winner explains: \u201cThere were people in Israel, including the IDSF, before October 7th, that said, time after time, we are walking on the wrong path, and we need to change the way we deal with our enemies and our doctrine.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, those voices were not strong enough, and the IDF High Command that was on active duty, and other groups who were dealing with security, including the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), were all supporting the \u201ccontainment\u201d doctrine.\n<\/p>\n
Soon after October 7, Prime Minister Netanyahu started to talk about \u201cpeace out of strength.\u201d\u00a0 It meant that Israel stopped processing all kinds of agreements that would give up territorial rights. Instead of withdrawing from territory, hoping Israel\u2019s enemies would stop attacking and killing citizens and IDF soldiers, Israel changed its doctrine. According to Winner, that change led to Israel operating its forces, \u201cfirst, in the Gaza Strip, later on in Lebanon, and of course, in Iran\u2026 until now.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Under the new security doctrine, the \u201ccontainment\u201d of conflicts has stopped. Israel has gone back to decisive wars. And, in-between wars, there is another element\u2026 \u201cenforcement.\u201d It means that when Israel\u2019s enemies try to grow stronger, attempting to acquire better weapons, along with dangerous elements that can thwart the safety of the country, the IDF acts with greater immediacy.\u00a0 Winner states: \u201cWe don\u2019t wait until they fire upon us. We attack in advance, like Israel did during the last year in Lebanon\u2026 and like Israel did in Iran.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Winner claims that American military forces are operating in a similar way, sighting the recent incident in the Straits of Hormuz, when Iran shot down a U.S. Apache helicopter, and America responded quickly. \u201cYou see, without hesitation, the U.S. knows how to hit, hurt, and harm.\u201d\u00a0 This is currently Israel\u2019s approach, as well, against its enemies.\n<\/p>\n
Winner sees it as a necessary and integral part of Israel\u2019s need for survival. \u201cThis is something that changed and should be crystal clear, and not just for now, but even after the coming election in Israel, with whomever will be in the chairs of the Defense Minister and Prime Minister \u2013 that should be their way of behavior,\u201d Winner insists.\n<\/p>\n
The new national security doctrine also includes \u2018susceptibility existence,\u2019 which means that Israel will be able to build its own needs in weapons and munitions. \u201cNot like we suffered in the beginning of the war when former U.S. President Joseph Biden boycotted Israel with several weapons and ammunitions,\u201d according to Winner.\n<\/p>\n
I asked Winner what is on his heart, for the future, that needs the most attention, for Israel to successfully maintain its defense and security. His response was that Israel still needs to finish in Lebanon, Gaza, and Iran. But, also, there are internal challenges.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I am looking at the next threat to arise, this is the threat to our homeland. This threat is combined from several elements. It starts with the huge amounts of weapons smuggling through our borders with Egypt and Jordan. We\u2019re talking about hundreds of thousands of illegal weapons that have been smuggled in, to crime elements, especially, Bedouin families in the south. From there it goes to all kinds of crime families all around Israel. You see those weapons, mostly, killing Arab citizens, but from there to terror is very close by.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Winner says some of the weapons are being smuggled to terrorists in Judea and Samaria, and to the Palestinians living there. Then, weapons are finding their way into the hands of severe crime elements in major Arab populations throughout Israel; and, into mixed cities of Jews and Arabs. Eventually, these weapons are used on Israeli streets and roadways.\n<\/p>\n
In conclusion, Winner hopes that Israeli officials make this a priority, considering this internal threat to the homeland. \u201cWe were working very hard on the war around our fronts (borders), but we shouldn\u2019t neglect this threat, as well.\u201d\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the diplomatic track pushes through the enforcement of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Iran and America,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":504516,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,54,196850,51,86,1031,85,87,46,155681,14176,88,43],"class_list":["post-504515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-donald-trump","tag-elections-in-israel","tag-hamas","tag-hezbollah","tag-idf","tag-il","tag-iran","tag-israel","tag-israel-at-war","tag-israel-iran-conflict","tag-lebanon","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504515\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}