Israel’s prevailing security policy has collapsed. For decades it projected a mirage of ruthless sophistication, as it repeatedly and confidently cut its Palestinian enemies down to size. But the unspeakable horrors of October 7, 2023 have prompted a visceral retaliation in Gaza, that brings still-unknown risks of escalation on other fronts, and the unprecedented suffering of innocent civilians that will ricochet through generations. The catastrophe should prompt a fundamental rethink of Israel’s strategic concepts — and carries dire warnings for India, too.
Managing rather than solving
Every couple of years, starting in 2008, Israel launched limited air campaigns into Gaza, to degrade the military capabilities — from rocket launchers to tunnels — of Hamas and other militants. Every couple of years, it would kill and destroy just enough of Hamas’s people and power to keep the rockets silenced, and the threat contained. A tenuous peace would return to the skies over Israel. This strategic “concept” based on periodic attrition seemed to work. But in fact Israel’s military virtuosity masked the reality that its approach was bereft of a political plan.
