How Israel Can Defend Itself in the Future

Excerpt

When is a failure a success? The Israeli intelligence fiasco that preceded the October 7 assault by Hamas in 2023 is undeniable. However, the Israeli military strategy that helped give rise to that disaster was also the key to some of the triumphs Israel has achieved in the nearly two years since, against Hezbollah in Lebanon and against Iran. That strategy was known as the “Campaign Between the Wars.” During a decade in which Israel’s military would engage sporadically in open cross-border conflicts, the IDF methodically honed its ability to combine precision airpower with granular intelligence and astounding speed. That is how Israel gained the upper hand in the seven-front war it has been waging across the Middle East. Those same capabilities are now likely to help lock in Israel’s gains moving forward.

The “Campaign Between the Wars” was designed to push war into the future. By the 2010s, the Islamic Republic of Iran had surrounded Israel with zealous proxies, which were armed to the teeth with rockets, drones, and other lethal weapons. By far, Lebanese Hezbollah was the most potent member of this so-called Axis of Resistance, because it possessed a growing arsenal of precision-guided munitions. Separately, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Shiite militias in Syria and Iraq, and the Houthis in Yemen added to the threat. In coordination with Iran, which continued to expand its arsenal of ballistic missiles, these proxies posed an existential threat to the Jewish state.

Jonathan Schanzer is executive director of Foundation for Defense of Democracies and contributing editor to Commentary.