Defense Ministry Director General Maj. Gen. (res.) Amir Baram explains the insight politicians have failed to grasp: "For us, Iran is an existential threat. For the US, it is no more than a regional challenge." And yet, the last military word has not yet been said in the Gulf.
As new regional projects threaten to bypass Israel, a fresh examination of the IMEC vision, the integration of transportation and trade, and Israeli policy shows that regional integration could actually turn the threat into an opportunity, provided there is a conceptual and infrastructural shift.
As voices in Trump’s camp grow more impatient with Israel, Jerusalem should answer not with confrontation, but with the confidence of a partner, proving its independence through action, judgment and strategic resolve.
Israel must set its sense of insult aside and look at reality. Washington is not naive, and neither is Trump. They are aware of the risks in the agreement, but believe this is the least bad solution, perhaps for Israel as well.
Israel will eventually have to test the validity of US assurances against Washington's commitments to Tehran.
According to diplomatic officials, the US, with the help of Israeli intelligence officials, is providing a security umbrella for Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and senior government officials who support the agreement with Israel. At the same time, Aoun has received backing from Gulf leaders to advance the diplomatic move.
Israel and Lebanon have a history full of agreements that were not worth the paper they were written on. While the intentions of both sides are worthy, it is unclear how Lebanon will cope with attempts by Hezbollah and Iran to torpedo the agreement. Its implementation also depends on the US president, who could fall in love with the agreement even if it contradicts what is happening on the ground.
A decade after the world lost “Reb Elie,” the Holocaust’s most vital witness, his moral clarity is needed more than ever as vicious, unabashed antisemitism is back.
The exposure of the strategic tunnel in Majdal Zoun and the "UAV airfield," alongside declarations by Hezbollah and the Iranian regime regarding their commitment to Israel's destruction, sharpen the necessity for the IDF to remain in the buffer zone in Lebanon.
From Iran’s perspective, military pressure is not meant to defeat the enemy, but to influence the terms of the agreement reached through negotiations. Lebanon has become leverage over Washington and a means of increasing friction between the US and Israel. This is precisely the point that the Israeli government is struggling to internalize, or refuses to understand.
