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In-Depth Issues:
Trump: Israel Never Talked Me into War with Iran ( Reuters)
President Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday:
"Israel never talked me into the war with Iran. The results of Oct. 7th, added to my lifelong opinion that IRAN CAN NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON, did."
Revolutionary Guards Have Seized Control of Iranian Negotiations and Military Operations ( Institute for the Study of War)
Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Commander Maj.-Gen. Ahmad Vahidi and members of his inner circle have likely secured at least temporary control over not only Iran's military responses but also Iran's negotiating position and approach.
The IRGC's consolidation of control over Iranian decision-making indicates that the Iranian political officials currently negotiating with the U.S. do not have the authority to independently determine Iran's negotiating positions.
Leaving the Iranian Missile Threat Unaddressed Guarantees Another Round of War - Amit Segal
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Before the recent Iran war, the IDF Intelligence Directorate estimated that Iran would have amassed 8,000 ballistic missiles within a year and a half, and up to 11,000 within two and a half years, overwhelming Israel's anti-missile defenses.
If Iran again approaches this threshold, another preemptive strike will be necessary.
Any diplomatic agreement that fails to impose strict restrictions on Iran's ballistic missile program will simply allow Tehran to replenish its arsenal using unfrozen funds.
Leaving the missile threat unaddressed guarantees another round of war against Iran in the next few years.
Iran Will Keep Lying, Former Mossad Head Warns ( Jerusalem Post)
Former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen said Monday, "We must not deceive ourselves: the Iranians will continue to lie, and we must not trust them or rest on our laurels. No agreement or ceasefire will change their fundamental ambitions."
Assessing Israel's Approach in Lebanon - Oded Ailam ( Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs)
The ceasefire imposed on Israel in the Lebanese arena is nothing more than the halting of a fourth war in the past forty years, without removing the threats and without addressing their root causes.
This is a direct result of a flawed doctrine: the attempt to replace military decision with "conflict management."
The IDF achieved impressive successes in the south, capturing, clearing, and establishing a significant buffer zone up to the Litani River, but failed to effectively contend with the rocket threat.
Even if Hizbullah retains only 20% of its arsenal, this still amounts to tens of thousands of rockets.
While IDF fighters clear border villages, the main centers of power in Baalbek and Dahieh remain relatively immune from ground operations.
To ensure that this ceasefire is not merely a prelude to a fifth war, Israel must abandon its defensive posture of attrition. All efforts must be focused on achieving a clear outcome.
This includes aggressive diplomatic warfare led by the U.S. and supported by Gulf states, with an uncompromising demand to outlaw Hizbullah and dismiss its ministers, close the Iranian embassy, neutralize the negative role of Nabih Berri as a mediator, and replace Lebanese army commander Rodolphe Haykal, who cooperates with Hizbullah.
The writer, former head of the Counterterrorism Division in the Mossad, is a researcher at the Jerusalem Center.
Hamas Awaits the End of the Iran War while Preparing for Continued Fighting - Yoni Ben Menachem ( Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs)
Senior Israeli security officials say Hamas aims to recover economically and rebuild its military strength as it prepares for the next confrontation with Israel.
Against this backdrop, Hamas is expected to prolong negotiations with President Trump's Peace Council, adopting an Iranian-style approach, buying time and setting preconditions.
Security sources say Hamas is tightening its control, acting forcefully against critics, suspected collaborators, and militias supported by Israel. Its confidence is growing, as seen in the presence of its armed forces on the streets.
At the same time, Hamas strengthens it civilian rule by expanding police, monitoring markets, keeping ministries active, and giving out aid.
Hamas takes the aid, sells it in local markets, and uses the money to recruit new members or upgrade its weapons.
Hamas continues trying to smuggle in weapons, sometimes via Egypt. It is also developing its own weapons, recruiting and training new fighters, and repairing damaged infrastructure.
Hamas is continuing attacks against IDF forces, using explosives, anti-tank fire, and guerrilla warfare.
As long as Israel and the U.S. are focused on Iran and Hizbullah, Hamas will keep its hold on Gaza.
The writer, a veteran Arab affairs and diplomatic commentator for Israel Radio and Television, is a senior Middle East analyst for the Jerusalem Center.
Israel Isn't Going to Allow Itself to Be Destroyed to Retain the World's Goodwill - Jonathan S. Tobin ( JNS)
On April 15, there was a dramatic rise in the number of votes in the U.S. Senate against giving Israel the weapons it needs to deal with its enemies in its existential war against Iran and its Hamas and Hizbullah auxiliaries.
Do these politicians really expect Israel - whether led by Netanyahu or any possible alternative - to share their delusions, while they ignore the fact that the Jewish state has no current peace partner and that Palestinian Arabs don't want a two-state solution?
Do they think Israeli citizens will commit suicide to retain the world's goodwill?
Even those who will vote against Netanyahu understand that the terrorist attacks that took place on Oct. 7 were just a trailer for what the Palestinians want to do to the rest of the Jewish state.
Israel isn't going to allow itself to be destroyed, even if its critics retake Congress and the White House in the coming years.
Production Surges at Israeli Defense Contractor Rafael ( Globes)
Since Oct. 7, production lines at Rafael Advanced Defense Systems have been working 24/7 as demand for weapons for the IDF surged.
Rafael CEO Yoav Tourgeman told Globes that a series of its products have proven themselves on the battlefield, from air defense systems such as David's Sling and Iron Dome to the Trophy anti-tank missile defense system.
"The performance of Iron Dome is unlike anything it has ever done. It now stops every threat - anti-tank missiles, mortars, rockets and drones with incredible interception rates."
Rafael also has offensive means including the Ice Breaker missile, for strikes at a distance of 300 km., and the Spike anti-tank missile series, which the IDF uses in all sectors.
Many hoped to see the deployment of the Iron Beam laser defense system. Tourgeman said, "I believe that soon we will also see operational results for the laser. The laser can be a classic for cluster missiles."
"We are currently in a rapid production phase, and the Air Force is in a professional integration process.... We do not want operational malfunctions."
Tourgeman reassured that at no point in the current war against Iran was there a shortage.
"The interception rates have been higher than 90%. I remind you that before the war there were estimates of hundreds or thousands of deaths."
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We wish our readers a Happy Israel Independence Day!
News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
- Second Round of U.S.-Iran Peace Talks Expected Tuesday in Pakistan - Summer Said
Iran told regional mediators it would send a negotiating team to Pakistan on Tuesday for the second round of peace talks with the U.S., as the two-week ceasefire is set to expire on Wednesday evening. Meanwhile, the U.S. will host a second round of ambassador-level talks between Israel and Lebanon on Thursday at the State Department.
(Wall Street Journal)
- U.S. Navy Sends in Robots to Clear Hormuz of Mines - Jared Malsin
The U.S. military is using sea drones to help clear the Strait of Hormuz of mines. Military analysts say clearing the mines is a necessary condition for ships to be able to sail through the middle of the waterway rather than the slower and more congested Iranian routes.
Uncrewed surface vessels and submarines are an increasingly important part of the U.S. Navy's countermine capabilities as it retires traditional minesweepers. They use sonar to scan the bottom of the ocean for mines without putting sailors at risk. (Wall Street Journal)
- State Department: Palestinian Authority Has Paid Convicted Terrorists Released as Part of Gaza Ceasefire Deal - Adam Kredo
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has paid salaries to convicted terrorists Israel released as part of its October 2025 ceasefire agreement with Hamas, the State Department formally determined in a report to Congress. The State Department previously noted in January that, even though PA President Mahmoud Abbas claimed in 2025 that he had scrapped the pay-to-slay program, his government had still doled out hundreds of millions of dollars to terrorists and their families. (Washington Free Beacon)
- Iran War Sent Shock Waves through Asia - Damien Cave
The impact of the war in Iran has hit Asia harder and faster than expected. The Asia-Pacific region relies more heavily on Middle Eastern energy imports than almost anywhere else in the world. Even before the war started on Feb. 28, Asia's energy capacity was falling short of demand. In interviews, farmers in Vietnam, laborers in India, innkeepers in Sri Lanka, drivers in the Philippines, and executives in Hong Kong and Singapore all sounded worried.
Carriers flying through the Middle East, where 24 million migrant workers from South and Southeast Asia are employed, suspended trips to Dubai and other Gulf hubs right away. With jet fuel nearly doubling in price and with its availability threatened, airlines are slashing many more routes indefinitely. Qantas, Air New Zealand, Lion Air of Indonesia, VietJet, AirAsia, Air India, Cathay Pacific and Batik Air of Malaysia are cutting service.
Copper and nickel production rely on natural gas and sulfur, a fossil fuel byproduct. Both are in short supply, forcing several Indonesian nickel processors to reduce output. Polyester and nylon are also derived from petroleum. In the sewing hubs of Bangladesh, severe disruptions to production and shipment schedules have become common. Prices have soared for helium, a gas byproduct used for semiconductors, and some Asian chipmakers are slowing production.
Without enough petrochemicals to make plastic packaging, fewer Korean beauty products are heading to stores. A lack of fertilizer is threatening rice crops in Vietnam. Cattle farmers in Australia are warning of a meat shortage because of idled slaughterhouses and truckers. (New York Times)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
- Israel Memorial Day 2026: 170 Soldiers Killed, 79 Civilian Victims - Gal Ganot
According to the Defense Ministry, 170 members of the military were killed over the past year, along with 79 civilians, many during the two operations against Iran.
(Ynet News)
- Memorial Day for the Fallen of Israel's Wars - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Prime Minister Netanyahu said Monday evening: Time passes, but it does not dull the memory of that moment of tidings, the most bitter of all, the news that our beloved souls are no longer among the living. That is how we felt when my brother Yoni, of blessed memory, fell 50 years ago during the mission to liberate our hostages in Entebbe.
On Memorial Day the nation remembers, the nation salutes, and the nation expresses deep gratitude to the sons and daughters thanks to whom our existence is secured.
Iran planned to destroy us with atomic bombs. Had we not acted, the names Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan would have joined the names of the death camps: Auschwitz, Birkenau, and Treblinka. But we acted, and we crushed the murderous plot. Contrary to the recent past, today we have a home, and we must guard it with all our might. The 25,648 fallen of Israel's wars are the foundation of our independence. Alongside them, we remember the thousands of victims of terrorism, the fallen of the civilian home front.
In the last 2 1/2 years, we have been engaged in a multi-front war unlike any since the War of Independence. We have not yet finished the work, but the world already recognizes our determination to defend ourselves and to defend humanity from barbaric fanaticism. Small Israel and our great friend, the United States, carry the weight of the entire Western civilization on their backs. (Prime Minister's Office)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
Iran
- The Iranian Regime's Deceptive Negotiation Strategy - Dr. Dan Diker and Dr. Harold Rhode
Tehran entered direct talks with the Trump administration in Islamabad, presented itself as a negotiating partner, demanded that Israel halt its ongoing operations against Hizbullah as a precondition for any agreement, and then walked away when the nuclear file remained unresolved. Days later, under the pressure of a U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports, the regime announced that the Strait of Hormuz was "completely open," only to have its Foreign Ministry dispute, within hours, the terms of what had reportedly been agreed.
This conduct is called, in Persian, ketman, a tradition of concealment in which the believer is permitted, and at times obligated, to say one thing while believing and pursuing another. Iranians are adept at outfoxing their opponents by appearing polite and cooperative while simultaneously working to destroy them. The courteous posture at the table is part of its strategy. In the Iranian worldview, negotiations are for discussing terms after one side has already won.
The regime's characteristic move is to concede in public, renegotiate in private, and reserve the right to deny tomorrow what was stated today. The regime in Tehran does not honor agreements. It exploits them. Every concession offered at the table is interpreted as weakness. Every pause is time purchased for enrichment and proxy reconstitution. The only language the regime has historically respected is the language of force, which must be credible, continuous, and, where required, kinetic.
Dr. Dan Diker is President of the Jerusalem Center. Dr. Harold Rhode, a fellow of the Jerusalem Center, served as an adviser on the Islamic world for the U.S. Department of Defense for 28 years.
(Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs)
- The Myth of an "Emboldened" Iran - Katherine Ellison
On July 18, 1994, Argentine investigators say a suicide bomber in a van packed with explosives drove into the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, killing 85 civilians. Hundreds more were wounded in the attack, which U.S. and Argentine officials allege was carried out by Hizbullah, with direction and support from Iran. A similar attack on the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires two years earlier killed 29.
The AMIA bombing has haunted me ever since I covered it as the South America bureau chief for the Miami Herald. I've thought of the victims over the past several weeks, while pundits and officials have warned that Washington's war is emboldening the Islamic Republic. I can't help but wonder: How much bolder - and more dangerous - could a regime become than one willing to murder scores of innocents, during peacetime, 8,500 miles away?
Last month, an Argentine prosecutor sought indictments for a trial in absentia of 10 Iranian and Lebanese suspects, including Ahmad Vahidi, the newly appointed commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Salman Raouf Salman, a senior member of Hizbullah, and Mohsen Rabbani, a high-ranking Iranian cleric and former cultural attache at Iran's embassy in Buenos Aires. A defector from the Iranian ministry of intelligence said that senior Iranian officials picked the AMIA building from a list of targets at a meeting in Mashhad, Iran, in August 1993.
The AMIA bombing stands out. Civilians weren't collateral damage; they were the point. I'm no fan of war, yet in the absence of options to change the Islamic leadership's worldview, reducing its capacity to act on its intent seems like worthwhile progress - or the only progress possible.
The writer won the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting. (Washington Post)
- The Strait of Hormuz Should Not Require a Maritime Force to Police It - Editorial
Over nearly two months since the U.S.-Israel war on Iran began, Tehran has held both global shipping and the world economy to ransom. Using its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz as a bargaining chip in the ongoing negotiations with Washington has made a mockery of international law and the very idea of free navigation. This cannot be allowed to pass.
Iran must know that in trying to use its control over the strait as leverage to extract concessions from the international community, it has only further isolated itself diplomatically from the rest of the world. The Iranian regime needs to understand that free, unrestricted and toll-free passage for all commercial vessels is a baseline requirement of international law and civilized order - not a bargaining chip.
(The National-UAE)
- The Gulf Learns What It's Like to Be Israel - Betsy Berns Korn and William C. Daroff
Forty days of war following the U.S. and Israel's joint campaign against the Islamic Republic of Iran are reshaping the Middle East and its alliances. Countries across the Gulf region now see what it has been like to live in Israel in recent decades, as rockets, missiles and drones have struck civilian population centers.
For decades, Israelis endured attacks on their cities from Iran and its proxies. Much of the world treated those attacks as background noise, or something to rationalize or applaud. In the recent conflict, Israel absorbed wave after wave of Iranian ballistic missile fire. Beersheba, Haifa, Jerusalem, Nahariya, Arad and Tel Aviv all took hits. At the same time, outrage barely registers across the U.S. and Europe over Iran's targeting of civilians and infrastructure, both in Israel and across the region.
Unlike in Israel, homes and offices in parts of the Gulf lack hardened bomb shelters, leaving civilians more exposed. The same holds true for Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman. None of these states are parties to the conflict. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps struck vital infrastructure, including oil facilities and desalination plants. The expectation of safety across many of these nations, once taken for granted, no longer holds. Countries that once viewed Israel's security challenges from a distance now confront them directly.
When Israel comes under fire, the international reaction arrives late - diluted by equivocation - or not at all. This time, the missiles have not fallen on Israel alone. Yet where is the outrage? Where are the emergency sessions? Where is the Arab League? Where is the Organization of Islamic Cooperation? The UN Security Council cannot pass a resolution brought by Bahrain and other Gulf states calling for condemnation and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
This moment tests whether targeting civilians is truly unacceptable or only unacceptable when it is convenient to say so. If attacks of this scale, across this many countries, fail to produce clarity, then the language of international norms becomes performance. Silence is not neutrality. It is acquiescence. When aggression meets no consequence, it expands.
Betsy Berns Korn is chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, where William C. Daroff is CEO. (JNS)
- As Long as the Iranian Regime Survives, Iran Will Remain a Clear and Present Danger - Lorrie Goldstein
As long as the Iranian regime survives, there will never be peace in the Mideast, tens of thousands of Iranians will continue to be imprisoned, tortured and murdered, and Iran will remain a clear and present danger to innocent civilians around the world.
On Jan. 8, 2020, the IRGC blew a Ukrainian civilian airliner out of the sky with two surface-to-air missiles, shortly after it took off from Tehran airport, killing all 176 people on board, including 55 Canadians and 30 permanent residents of Canada.
Iran funds, trains and supports more than a dozen terrorist groups, including Hamas, Hizbullah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Houthis, Harakat al-Sabireen, and the Fatemiyoun Division - all designated as terrorist groups by Canada. Despite knowing this, the Canadian government treats Israel like the moral equivalent of Hamas and Hizbullah, with Foreign Minister Anita Anand declaring that, in the latest confrontation between Israel and Hizbullah, both sides should lay down their arms.
Our own government says Iranian intelligence services engage in transnational repression of Canadian citizens of Iranian origin in Canada, "including monitoring, harassing and intimidating" opponents of the regime. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) has identified credible death threats by Iran against Canadians, including a failed attempt to assassinate former Canadian justice minister Irwin Cotler.
In 2023, an investigation reported that hundreds of operatives of the Iranian government were living in Canada, including 24 identified as members of the terrorist IRGC. Given that Prime Minister Mark Carney has proclaimed that Canada will arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he sets foot in our country because of the International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant for his prosecution for war crimes, maybe his government could be a little tougher on Iranian terrorists living in Canada.
(Toronto Sun-Canada)
Israel Independence Day
- Israel at 78: Commitment, Solidarity, and Determination - Herb Keinon
Each year before Independence Day, the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics releases a report. This year's figures show that Israel's population grew by 150,000 and that 91% of Israelis say they are satisfied or very satisfied with their lives. But the numbers say nothing about the kind of year the country actually experienced.
It has now been well over two years since Oct. 7, 2023, a day that shattered assumptions and exposed vulnerabilities we still struggle to comprehend. Since then, Israel has been at war - first in Gaza, then in Lebanon, and now twice with Iran. It has been a year of sirens and safe rooms, of long stints of reserve duty. But that is only half the story.
Israel fought on multiple fronts, dealing devastating blows to Hamas, Hizbullah, and Iran - actions that will take those enemies years to recover from. It secured the release of the remaining hostages. And it once again demonstrated a capacity for resilience and mobilization that surprised even itself. Oct. 7 was a catastrophe. But Oct. 8 was the moment when Jews responded forcefully and decisively.
78 years ago, Israel emerged from the shadow of the Holocaust, weak and vulnerable. Today, it is a strong, independent state with a tremendous ability to defend itself. We need to be careful not to lose sight of how far we have come.
One expression of national resilience can be seen in the area adjacent to Gaza. On the eve of Oct. 7, 62,000 people lived there. Today, the number is higher. Most of those who were evacuated have returned, and new families are moving in. Hamas tried to empty those communities. Instead, they grew. This is a reminder of a deep current in Israeli society - one of commitment, solidarity, and determination. (Jerusalem Post)
Israel and the West
- The West Is Losing Its Moral Compass - Jake Wallis Simons
After Oct. 7 the morality should have been clear. Yet we endured the disgraceful spectacle of people celebrating the pogrom in London less than 24 hours afterwards. There followed a vicious propaganda campaign, driven by our enemies and embraced by international organizations and the media, which inaccurately labeled the war as a "genocide." Millions of gullible people were swept up. Supporters of Israel - a democracy fighting for its life - became a dying breed. European powers concluded it was best to reward Hamas by recognizing a Palestinian state.
Although the Iranian regime is believed to have butchered more than 30,000 people in two days, sows terror around the globe, lusts after nuclear weapons, and is driven by apocalyptic theological fantasies, its fans have marched in our cities. The Ayatollah is seen as an icon of progressivism. (Telegraph-UK)
Zionism
- Why, as a Progressive Jew, I Firmly Identify as a Zionist - Dr. Moises Salinas Fleitman
I am a progressive Jew. I believe in human rights, equality, and justice. I also identify firmly as a Zionist. It is because I believe in human rights, take justice seriously, and because I take Jewish history seriously, that I place myself unapologetically in the Zionist camp.
Zionism means the belief that the Jewish people are a nation, and that like other nations they have the right to self-determination in their ancestral land. Self-determination is a core collective human right, one routinely recognized for other peoples. If I begin from a commitment to human rights, I cannot treat Jewish self-determination as the one exception, because denying a fundamental right to the Jewish people while recognizing it to all others is, in fact, discrimination.
Anti-Zionism is often presented as though it were merely moral outrage at Israeli policy. It is not.
Anti-Zionism begins where criticism of policy ends. It means either denying that Jews are a people or accepting that they are a people while denying them the same right of collective self-determination routinely granted to others.
As a proud second-generation Mexican Jew, I learned very early that identity is shaped not only by what one feels inwardly, but by what the surrounding world insists on seeing. I also grew up with the persistent reminder that, for many (perhaps for most), I was somehow not fully Mexican. I was treated, subtly or openly, as if I were foreign, conditional, not quite of the place.
That experience is difficult for many American Jews to fully grasp, especially those who came of age in periods and places of greater security and acceptance. But outside the American frame, you learn that emancipation is real but fragile, belonging is real but conditional, and acceptance can narrow overnight.
The 20th century taught Jews that statelessness, dependency, and the goodwill of others are not a sufficient answer to Jewish history. It also taught that universalism is a noble language, but it has often failed Jews precisely when they most needed concrete protection. This explains why so many Jews, especially those whose families came from the Middle East, North Africa, or Eastern Europe, experience Zionism as the political form of collective survival.
To me, being progressive means applying moral principles consistently, not selectively. If self-determination is a right, then it is a right for Jews too.
The writer is Rector (President) of ORT University Mexico. (Times of Israel)
Observations:
- In the direct Israeli-Lebanese talks held in Washington, Lebanon cannot adopt a language that frames these talks as a partnership with Israel against Hizbullah without destroying its domestic legitimacy. Hizbullah is simultaneously a Lebanese sovereignty problem and an Israeli security threat. There is a certain overlap of interests between Beirut and Jerusalem on the need to prevent Hizbullah from exercising independent military control over southern Lebanon. However, that does not put the two sides on the same side.
- Peace with Lebanon is an important goal. Normalization between the two countries would be a genuine regional achievement. Still, none of this is achievable as long as Hizbullah continues to exist as an armed terrorist organization with its own escalation decisions and a position that fundamentally negates Lebanon's monopoly on force. Peace cannot exist with one government when another actor inside the country holds the right to decide on war and peace.
- This is why the goal must be reframed. The objective is the systematic, gradual denial of the sovereign functions Hizbullah currently exercises from Lebanese soil. The first is the right to decide on war and peace, independent of the Lebanese state. The second is physical control over southern Lebanon and the border zone. The third is dominance over financial flows, supply chains, and smuggling networks. The fourth is the capacity to substitute for the state itself through reconstruction, welfare, services, and political representation within the Shia community.
- Only the gradual removal of these four functions can return southern Lebanon, and the authority over it, to the Lebanese state. The more effectively southern Lebanon is brought under the authority of the Lebanese state, the less need there is for Israel to act on its own.
- What is required is not a redeployment of the Lebanese Armed Forces, but a dedicated Lebanese force for the south: recruited from outside the south's local population and outside the infrastructure Hizbullah has built there, and tasked with holding ground, controlling the border, and preventing Hizbullah's return. This Lebanese state force is required in order to make Lebanese sovereignty real in practice.
- Hizbullah's supply routes must be permanently degraded, not temporarily disrupted. No security arrangement survives if the population remains exclusively reliant on Hizbullah for the basics of normal life. A state-led reconstruction mechanism, backed internationally, is a strategic necessity.
- Success is not a signed document. Success is a verifiable situation, within a few years, in which Hizbullah no longer functions as an operational sovereign south of the Litani; southern Lebanon has genuinely transferred to state authority; Hizbullah's financial and logistical networks are measurably degraded; and the Shia community has real alternatives to dependence on a single armed organization. That is also the condition for peace.
The writer, vice president of the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, served in senior government positions for 27 years.
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