Internal security and the looming threat from Iran took center stage at the Israel Hayom "Bolstering the North" conference in the Upper Galilee on Wednesday. In a candid conversation, senior security figures warned that the quiet on the northern border is deceptive and that a direct confrontation with Tehran may be closer than the public realizes due to Israel's need to defend itself.
"Even in the north, kilometers (miles) from the border – before we talk about national security, let's talk about personal security," Israel Hayom Deputy Editor-in-Chief Ori Dagon said in one of the panels, during which he interviewed Brigadier General (Res.) Amir Avivi, the chairman of the IDSF-Habithonistim (Israel Defense and Security Forum).
"How do we deal with the north in general and with the Upper Galilee specifically? We need to address the protection rackets (extortion schemes) and agricultural theft. Sometimes this is even more critical than what is happening at the border fence," he asked.
"Security doctrine is built from the inside out. If it is rotten on the inside, it will eventually spread outwards," Avivi said. "We are in deep, systemic rot. Essentially, the State of Israel refuses to define the internal reality. There is a campaign being waged inside the country. At the IDSF-Habithonistim (Israel Defense and Security Forum), we defined this a year ago. Broadly speaking, the Arab-Israeli conflict is characterized by the same dynamics everywhere, whether across the border or within it.
"You see it in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) with land takeovers, you see it in the Negev, and in the Galilee. The protection rackets (extortion schemes) are ubiquitous, along with the crime families and militias that employ 12 and 13-year-old children to hold grenades and carry out terror. The terror begins inside Arab society itself and spills over. 80% of businesses in the north are paying protection rackets (extortion schemes). The state itself is under protection rackets."
Q: How can I open a business when criminals come to me immediately and say, 'Pay me or I burn your business down'?"
"Exactly. In the American system, one sees that the attorney general is a massive role," Avivi noted. "They define the rule of law. They are supposed to be the coordinator. Our attorney general is the attorney general is simply missing in action."
Q: How do you explain that? Is the government not interested enough?
"I think there is a structural duality here," Avivi added. "I do not think the public understands the role of the attorney general – the person who is supposed to enforce order using all security bodies. There is no engagement with this issue. Furthermore, they are not adapting the law to the reality on the ground. They try to claim that what is happening inside the State of Israel is merely criminal, rather than a genuine danger to national security.
"It is only a question of time before this criminal issue morphs into a full-blown security event. There are half a million illegal weapons in Arab hands. The head of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) says the number is one million. That is several times the weaponry held by the IDF. It is insane. The State of Israel needs to impose order. We say: In a few months the war will end. We must not repeat the mistake of the Yom Kippur War aftermath. We need a strong army, true. But the minute the war ends, the state must shift the center of gravity from the IDF to the home front. Establishing another Border Police brigade is not enough. The state recruits 1,200 malshabim (pre-induction recruits) to the regular police. I say we need 3,000, not 1,200."
Q: And what are you doing about it?
"We are defining every target that needs to be handled," Avivi answered. "The prime minister needs to come and say: 'There is a battle on Israel itself here and it must be handled.' I do not believe there is anything the State of Israel decides is important that it cannot handle. First, the situation must be defined. On October 7, within mere minutes, Israel defined that we were in a state of war. That is a state of mind. It is not that the state handles governance poorly; it simply isn't in the event.
"They are playing rugby while we are playing cricket. The public, in its state of mind, felt we were on the road to war. But the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and the IDF were disconnected. The public understands what is happening here – they feel it personally. This applies to both the Arab and Jewish publics. But the government is not there. It is not saying: 'There is a campaign here that requires us to get into the thick of it and act.' The Shin Bet states that the weaponry is not just a criminal problem but a national one.
Q: Let's discuss the surrounding threats. Hezbollah is quiet right now at the border. How do you see the campaign continuing?
"When we reached a ceasefire, the public mistakenly understood that the war had ended. That is false. We will enter a period of renewed fighting in all sectors. The Lebanon issue relates directly to what is happening right now in Iran. We are building up toward a campaign in Iran. There could be a preemptive Iranian strike. We see the government and the security brass warning Iran.
"It is possible that we will launch an attack before the Americans do. Iran is moving its proxies to ensure they do not face us alone. We hear in the discourse that they are weighing this option. Therefore, the probability of a major attack in Iran coinciding with fire from additional sectors is very high. The IDF is not attacking in Lebanon constantly for no reason.
"What is certain is that if Hezbollah opens fire, the IDF will strike them until they collapse. In any case, the key is toppling the Iranian regime, which will cause all its proxies to crumble. This was not the goal a few months ago, but it has changed everything. The American determination, Maduro, changed the desire to topple regimes."
