The End of Israel’s Gaza Illusions

Nov 3, 2023

Also published in Foreign Affairs
IDF solders operating inside Gaza in October 2023 - source: Government of Israel
About the Authors
Assaf Orion
Assaf Orion

Assaf Orion, a retired Israeli brigadier general and defense strategist whose broad research scope ranges from relations with China to Israel’s regional political-military strategy and policy, is the Liz and Mony Rueven International Fellow with The Washington Institute.

Articles & Testimony

The country must come to terms with the fact that this war is deeply different from those it has fought in recent decades, and commit unwaveringly to transforming its security approach.

In the nearly four weeks since Hamas’s heinous attacks, Israel has begun a deep transformation that will be felt for years to come. As Israeli forces embark on the more difficult stages of a ground campaign to defeat Hamas, two themes have become particularly important. First, it is crucial to understand that this is not just another round of conflict in Gaza. To be successful, the country must countenance a war of exceptional scope and difficulty that could last for many months. Israel will have to deploy military strategies drawn from long-war paradigms alongside a multiyear counterinsurgency campaign that also leverages diplomatic, informational, and economic tools. Second, the horrific massacre marked a catastrophic collapse of Israel’s existing security strategy. The old deterrence model—which assumed that Hamas could be contained through defensive technology and occasional limited and indecisive deterrence operations in Gaza—is dead...

Read the full article on the Foreign Affairs website.

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