Weekly Commentary: Success on the Three Major Security Challenges (Gaza,
North, Iran) Assessed Individually
Dr. Aaron Lerner August 29, 2021

It is understandable for the nation's decision makers to see the handling of
the security challenges (Gaza, the North and Iran) as a package rather than
on a front-by-front bases.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, for example, opted to allow Hezbollah to
build up a threat of over a hundred thousand rockets plus an ever growing
arsenal of guided missiles because somehow expending the resources required
to remove this threat conflicted with our needs for dealing with Iran.

The "mow the grass" approach in Gaza, which, in retrospect, apparently left
a lot of grass, was ostensibly driven by the same logic.

But for the rest of us these vague explanations wear thin.

Most Israelis look at what is happening around Gaza - the incendiary
balloons, the return to terrorist night activity on the line to keep
everyone in the area awake and even rockets - and it doesn't interest us if
the Egyptians are angry at Hamas or some minor targets in the IDF target
bank are bombed. What matters to most people is if there is quiet. Period.

And I write this knowing full well that the responsible authorities should
ALSO be concerned about the force build ups in the Gaza Strip. Question:
how many rocket factories and warehouses are in the IDF's target bank today?
How does this figure compare to three months ago?

Most Israelis look North and wonder if we aren't creeping towards a major
clash. Yes, the intelligence assessments keep explaining why Hezbollah isn't
interested in a conflict right now. But anyone old enough to have lived
through a few wars here knows that almost every time that was the
intelligence assessment.

Naftali Bennett returns from Washington with President Biden's endorsement
of the Israeli-Moderate Arab alliance against Iran.

Bennett's challenge is to insure that this critical alliance does not
impinge on our ability to address our challenges in Gaza and the North.

I daresay that someone really smart may find it possible to find ways for
this alliance to help rather than hinder our dealing with these other
challenges.

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Arab-Israeli relations

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