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The Post-October 7 Security Strategy Driving Israeli Actions

(Foreign Affairs) Meir Ben Shabbat and Asher Fredman - Hamas's brutal attack on Oct. 7, 2023 - which left 1,200 dead and hundreds more held captive - made clear to Israel's leaders and citizens alike that the country must change its approach to national security to ensure its survival. Oct. 7 demonstrated that it is impossible to contain groups such as Hamas or to accept their existence along Israel's borders without compromising the country's safety. In the subsequent two years, Israeli decision-makers have discarded old security paradigms in favor of new strategies. Israel had generally sought to limit its actions to the minimum necessary to remove immediate threats and restore quiet. Today, however, Israel is no longer content with weakening, rather than defeating, its adversaries. Instead, Israeli leaders are much more willing to employ the country's military strength to proactively shape a new order that protects its national interests. Israel's targeted killings of senior leaders in Iran, Lebanon, Qatar, and elsewhere show that Israel no longer adheres to redlines that its neighbors believed it would never cross. Israel will not grant immunity to any leaders of hostile groups, no matter their political title or location, if Israel believes they are involved in terrorist activity. Israel is willing to establish war goals that are far more ambitious than the ones it has pursued in the past, even if achieving those goals is costly and requires sustained or multifront military action. Israel must avoid security concessions based on visions of peace that overlook the hatred of Israel and extremist views that have taken root among the Palestinians and other Arab populations. As soon as Israel suggests a compromise for peace, countries hostile to Israel see it as evidence that the country will buckle under pressure. There is only one way to truly end the conflict in Gaza: removing Hamas as the dominant force and demilitarizing the territory by ridding it of weapons in the hands of hostile actors; killing, capturing, or exiling the vast majority of enemy commanders and fighters; and dismantling any infrastructure that allows Hamas to manufacture weapons or maintain its rule. By embracing a strategy that prioritizes real security concerns over wishful diplomacy and proactive intervention over reactive restraint, Israel is making itself stronger, not weaker. It can thrive only if its borders are secure, existential challenges on its periphery are removed, and its regional partnerships grow deeper. Meir Ben Shabbat, Chair of the Misgav Institute for National Security, served as Israel's National Security Adviser from 2017 to 2021. Asher Fredman is Executive Director of the Misgav Institute.
2025-09-16 00:00:00
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