Nazareth – “Al Quds Al Arabi”: The former head of Military Intelligence and head of the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, Major General (Reserve) Amos Yadlin, enumerates the security achievements and failures during Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year rule in a row (2009-2021).
In a lengthy article published by the Hebrew Channel 12 website, he said that the caution shown by Netanyahu and his unwillingness to engage in military adventures prevented the outbreak of a major war, in addition to expanding the circle of peace with Arab and Islamic countries, which constituted an indisputable achievement, calling to look at Netanyahu’s rule in the past ten years. With a broad and comprehensive view, it summarizes and appreciates the contribution of those who until recently were seen in Israel as the undisputed “master of security.”
According to Yadlin, in the last decade, Israel has faced security challenges, including the struggle against the Iranian nuclear program, the consequences of regional unrest on Israel’s security, the Iranian establishment near the northern border, the strengthening of Hezbollah in Lebanon and the digging of its tunnels. These are added to delicate projects in the occupied West Bank and the continuation of the confrontation with Hamas. In the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah.
He says that while Netanyahu’s supporters viewed Netanyahu as an irreplaceable “master of security,” his critics and opponents claim that he has also failed in the security field.
“The reality shows that the truth, as in many cases, is not on the edges. During his rule, Netanyahu did not formulate a comprehensive and solid concept of security, and his perception can be deduced retroactively from his actions and what he omitted,” explaining that Netanyahu believed that merging Israel’s security power with economic power would increase its political power in the eyes of the countries of the world, stressing that “despite the ability of Netanyahu’s rare rhetoric did not formulate a deep and renewed security concept for Israel, a concept that would set a compass that defines its strategic goals and vision for its future, noting that in all the years he spent as a leader, Netanyahu acted according to an active tactical approach, but with strategic passivity in the face of the need to promote long-term goals of security Israeli nationalist.

vision on paper

According to Yadlin, Netanyahu, who had difficulty leading the work of the crew and thinking in the team, estimated that he alone would be able to formulate the concept of security, and so he submitted a secret concept to the Political and Security Cabinet in 2018, but he never presented it to the army leadership, did not submit it to any public discussion, and did not apply it in private After the country was attacked by the Corona pandemic, four electoral rounds were repeated.
He goes on to critically review Netanyahu’s tenure: “Israel went through a decade without major and costly bloody wars. Despite the three rounds of fighting against Hamas under Netanyahu in 2012, 2014 and 2021, Israel has not witnessed a major war since the Second Lebanon War in 2006. Netanyahu knows how to strengthen Israel’s basic deterrence force against it: deterrence was reciprocal. Netanyahu’s caution and unwillingness to embark on military adventures that could slip into a long and costly war counts for him, noting that he has mastered the adoption of what is known as the battle between wars as an innovative methodological concept instead of the option of wide war, and that his main goal was to prevent Israel’s enemies from establishing a force on the northern front. With worthy risk management.
He also says that Netanyahu adopted the army’s viewpoint in stopping the Iranian establishment as well as in thwarting Hezbollah’s precision missile project, noting that his success in this is partial.
He adds, “In the era of Netanyahu, the defensive dimension of the Israeli security concept has been greatly enhanced. The multi-layered missile and missile defense systems that came into operation under Netanyahu make an important contribution due to their qualitative progress. The Iron Dome system ensured Israel’s ability to wage a long but limited military campaign against Hamas with minimal casualties on the Israeli side.
In addition, he says, “The underground barrier against tunnels in Gaza proved its high efficiency in the operation of guards of the walls by stopping a wide and sudden intrusion into Israel, in addition to that, the construction of the fence along the Israeli-Egyptian border stopped the entry of infiltrators from the African continent, which is an obstacle It effectively prevented a demographic threat to the character of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.”
In Yadlin’s opinion, one of the most prominent political achievements during Netanyahu’s era was the signing of normalization agreements with prominent Arab countries such as the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco, which effectively broke the “land for peace” formula, in addition to significantly strengthening security relations with Egypt under the leadership of President Sisi.

His summary included the strategic situation after 12 years of his rule

Internationally, he believes that Netanyahu led moves that strengthened Israel’s position in the face of the great powers, considering relations with the Trump administration a “honeymoon” and one of the best times for Israel’s security, stressing that special relations with Russia led to security coordination in Syria, noting the deepening of Israel’s relations with China and India. . On the other hand, he points out that Israel’s relations with Europe froze. It also indicates that Netanyahu, in his last year, firmly led the strategic efforts to purchase vaccines and vaccinate the Israelis against Corona until Israel became under his leadership the first country that reached high vaccination rates that almost completely stopped the Corona epidemic.

Stop the Iranian nuclear project

Noting that stopping Iran’s progress toward nuclear weapons was Netanyahu’s first goal, but he failed to achieve this goal, Yadlin says, “When Netanyahu took office, there were only a few hundred centrifuges of the old generation in Iran in one location. During the 12 years of Netanyahu’s rule, Iran has made a huge leap forward on its way to a nuclear bomb. Today it powers thousands of centrifuges of which hundreds have been developed and enriches large quantities to a high level of enrichment. The Iranians have three well-protected enrichment sites and many missiles aimed at Israel.”

The reactors of Tammuz and Deir ez-Zor

Yadlin also confirms that the behavior of the political campaign during Netanyahu’s period was flawed, noting that the media disputes between him and Obama and the fear of Israel attacking Iran reinforced the latter’s opinion that it would be better to conclude a deal with the Iranians despite Israel’s disapproval. With the change of government, however, Netanyahu lost the opportunity during the Trump administration, which was the most sympathetic American administration ever with Israel, to stop the Iranian nuclear program. Netanyahu and Trump have not prepared a “Plan B” for the issue that is currently being implemented, regarding significant Iranian progress towards the nuclear threshold, which is in fact a result or response to the United States’ withdrawal from the agreement. He notes that in Israel itself, Netanyahu led a military program at the beginning of the last decade, but did not support its strengthening, budgets, adaptation and modernization in the face of new Iranian challenges. He says that all the actions attributed to the Israeli establishment are impressive and daring actions, which did not stop the Iranian program and failed to be an alternative to a devastating strike similar to the bombing of the nuclear facilities in Iraq and Syria.
He continues to dwell on Netanyahu’s failures, and says that despite the army’s operations, Hezbollah and Hamas have significantly increased their strength, improved their weapons systems, and developed impressive technological capabilities in the areas of missile accuracy, drones, air defense, and the range of its missile arsenal, especially since Hezbollah has 100,000 missiles. . In the face of both Hamas and Hezbollah, Netanyahu has failed miserably as he failed to prevent the arming of terrorist organizations that pose a security challenge greater than the threats to the armies of neighboring countries. To his credit, and for the benefit of the Chief of Staff, Lt. Col. Gadi Eisenkot, the destruction of the tunnels built by Hezbollah on the northern border will be recorded.”

One country between the sea and the river

He says that with regard to the Palestinian issue, Netanyahu has not made any progress in the political process, which has created a creeping situation for a one-state reality between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean. Noting that in addition, instead of confronting the Palestinian Authority, hoping to weaken Hamas, the latter during the Netanyahu era intensified its military and political power and established a government in the Gaza Strip.
He added, “Hamas has made a very important psychological achievement as a protector and liberator of Palestinian prisoners since Netanyahu agreed to the massive release of Palestinian prisoners in the Shalit deal: Netanyahu preferred to preserve the extremist Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the weak Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. In other words, Netanyahu’s policy contributed greatly to the intensification of the greatest threat to the Zionist project of a bi-national state, in addition to strengthening the radical and military component of the Palestinian regime.
Yadlin says that Netanyahu failed to deter Hamas in the way that Hezbollah was deterred in the north, noting also that the three military operations that the Israeli army began at its time with the aim of rehabilitating the deterrence force against Hamas did not lead to long-term deterrence and in a short period after each operation returned Settlements in the Gaza envelope to come under fire.
He warns that instead of causing the collapse of Hamas rule, as he repeatedly promised in his election campaigns, Netanyahu has failed miserably in all his dealings with the “Palestinian terrorist organization” that controls the Gaza Strip. In addition, he says, Netanyahu’s shameful acquiescence to Hamas’ demands in the Shalit deal and the release of hundreds of “blood on their hands” and his refusal to accept the Shamgar Committee’s recommendations on dealing with “the main terrorist organizations” will make it difficult in the future to do so.

Relations with Washington

Yadlin considers relations with the United States one of the most important aspects of Israeli national security, noting that it is the most important ally of Israel in all fields, and that after four years of sympathetic rule in the Trump era, Netanyahu left a problematic legacy with the Biden administration in almost every region. He continues, “Even if the balance of rights under Netanyahu included moving the US embassy to Jerusalem and recognizing it as the capital of Israel, we have witnessed on the ground the continuation of negative operations in the capital. Only a few countries followed in Trump’s footsteps and the Biden administration restored the East Jerusalem consulate to its former status.
His decisions damaged Israel’s standing in the city, and the knife intifada demonstrated how effectively the city was divided. It also warns that Hamas has become especially strong in the wake of Operation Guard of the Walls, after it added Jerusalem to the equation of relations with Israel in exchange for the Gaza Strip and positioned itself as the defender of the holy sites in exchange for the decline in the status of the Palestinian Authority, and finally Jerusalem itself became less united, and even vice versa.
Yadlin, like many observers and researchers, stresses that national security is not only related to dealing with external enemies, noting the importance of society’s flexibility and cohesion as an essential component of its strength. He stresses that Netanyahu has weakened Israel’s resilience and harmed the sense of solidarity among large segments of the population. Noting the danger of weakening the police and the judiciary and losing rule over the hills of the West Bank, the Negev and Arab towns, stressing that armed organized crime has become a security threat and not just a criminal threat, in addition to the erosion of confidence in state institutions, undermining internal cohesion and incitement against them.
He says that managing the Corona crisis until the emergence of vaccines involves a leadership and administrative failure of the first degree that caused the death of thousands, most of them without justification. He points out that Netanyahu has damaged the status of the Defense Ministry and the Israeli army, weakened the cabinet and the Knesset’s supervision of the defense system, and did not encourage national planning and employment, noting that the replacement of four security ministers within five years prevented stability and the ability to formulate a multi-year plan for the Israeli army, considering that Netanyahu also considered that He failed to deal with the boycott movement, the rise of anti-Semitism and the Palestinian trial at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

Relationship with Jordan

Also, believing that Netanyahu has damaged important relations with the “neighbor to the east” the Kingdom of Jordan, he says that the long border with it is an important buffer zone against the Shiite axis – Iraq and Iran.
Corresponding to the former head of the political and security wing in the Defense Ministry, Major General (Reserve) Amos Gilad, Yadlin says that security cooperation with Jordan is important and vital to Israel’s security. On this, he continues, “the lack of trust between Netanyahu and King Abdullah led to the freezing of relations and ended, among other things, the Israeli presence in the two enclaves in the areas of Al-Baqura and Al-Ghamr.”
He believes that during Netanyahu’s tenure, Israel’s qualitative advantage has eroded, and that Iran is working to bridge the technological and quality gaps, from its progress in the nuclear field to precision missile systems, cruise missiles, cyber capabilities, drones, satellite capabilities and advanced air defense capabilities.
On the other hand, the principle of maintaining Israel’s qualitative superiority over supplying Israel’s neighbors with advanced Western weapons, such as F-35 planes for unstable Gulf states and German submarines for the Egyptian army, has been violated.
Yadlin concludes by saying that despite the methodological difficulty of balancing the scope and quality of Netanyahu’s positive and negative actions as prime minister, there is no doubt that Israel is emerging from decades of rule with two important achievements that cannot be discussed: without a major war and expanding the circle of peace with Arab and Islamic countries.
At the same time, it is impossible to ignore a series of failures: Iran’s advanced nuclear program, Hezbollah’s range of precision missiles, the intensification of Hamas’s strength from round to round, the deterioration of the political situation in the world, discord and distrust with Biden and the European administration, and the activation of the International Court of Justice. He concludes, “One has to wait for the verdict of history, but it seems that the maximum title you can bestow upon him at the end of his term is ‘Semi-Confident Master’.”