{"id":599247,"date":"2026-08-29T02:50:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T02:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/599247\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T02:50:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T02:50:18","slug":"israels-qualitative-edge-means-everyone-elses-vulnerability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/599247\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel\u2019s ‘Qualitative Edge’ means everyone else’s vulnerability"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who remains at large despite an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) nearly two years ago, argues in his latest article against what he describes as the \u201cgradual entrenchment\u201d of T\u00fcrkiye in Syria. He compares it with the \u201cIranian penetration\u201d in Lebanon, which, he maintains, developed because at the time Israel failed to take the threat seriously enough. This time, however, he warns his fellow Israelis that the threat must be taken very seriously. \u201cWe cannot allow a military establishment so close that it degrades our ability to defend ourselves against Iran, against Lebanon, and against Syria itself,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Gallant\u2019s entire thinking is based on a simple military doctrine: that Israel must have the \u201cqualitative military edge\u201d to ensure that it is essentially the most powerful country in its region. The mere possibility that another country could rival Israel militarily is anathema to this thinking, for it assumes that Israel would have to \u201cdefend itself\u201d if that other country ever challenged its power, even if only theoretically. And on this assumption, it makes policy decisions and continually acts on them. Yet this, ironically, demonstrates quite dramatically that Israel is itself what it claims to fear.<\/p>\n

Gallant\u2019s article is perhaps not very informative, but it is certainly interesting. It is interesting both for revealing how he, as a senior figure in what may be called the \u201cIsraeli establishment,\u201d for lack of a better term, perceives the world through what he takes to be the perspective of \u201cIsraeli interests,\u201d and for articulating the manner in which Israel usually cooperates with others.<\/p>\n

After making several observations regarding T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s influence in Syria as he interprets it, Gallant cautions that \u201ca Syrian army rebuilt with Turkish systems, by Turkish trainers, is a Syrian army that answers in some measure to Ankara.\u201d Instead, Israel must see to it that it answers \u201cin some measure\u201d to Tel Aviv. In fact, this is precisely what Gallant is telling those friendly countries which he praises for \u201cpartnering with Israel, not against it\u201d to do without objection. It is a strategy that apparently \u201chas already been proven as a far more productive route.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gallant\u2019s worldview is noteworthy, not least as an illustration of what \u201cproductive routes\u201d in international relations are supposed to look like within the rules-based international order. Of course, his worldview is contested by many, including some in Israel, though not always for the right reasons. The right reasons would include, for example, the complete rejection of the notion that Israel gets to decide which particular routes may be productive, especially in view of the fact that its preferred routes have led to so much destruction in its region over the decades.<\/p>\n

Gallant\u2019s regret that Israel\u2019s relations with T\u00fcrkiye are not what they used to be,<\/a> which is not really because T\u00fcrkiye has become particularly adversarial toward Israel, as he complains, but because Israel has come to view T\u00fcrkiye as a challenger, is only as genuine as his regret over the civilian deaths in Gaza. It cannot be genuine because it is expressed against the background of a military doctrine that demands absolute superiority. What Gallant regrets, then, could only be that this absolute superiority is at risk today, and that there is no easy way to secure it in the long run either. It is thus with desperation that he urges Israeli leaders to \u201caddress the foothold while it is still being built and build the fourth circle while there is time to build it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given the substance of the discussions about Israel\u2019s poorly defined \u201cright to defend itself,\u201d it was always to be expected that this right would eventually be extended to justify Israel\u2019s preemptive actions against the theoretical threat that others may be able to respond to the very tangible threat that it has posed to them, arguably ever since its inception as a state. \u201cPartnering with Israel, not against it\u201d requires, therefore, remaining vulnerable to it.<\/p>\n

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