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Source: https://jcfa.org/defensible-borders-what-it-means-reflections-after-the-war/
What "Defensible Borders" Means for Israel after the War
(Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs) Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror - True security comes from anticipating threats before they emerge and sustaining the moral and material strength needed to deter aggression and protect the nation's survival. The phrase "defensible borders" has been used in Israel for many years to explain why Israel could not accept the 1967 lines as defensible, mainly with regard to Jordan and Syria. Israel remains a small country with a population of 8 million Jews compared with 400 million people in the Arab League countries. At the UN, Israel faces 21 Arab states and 57 Muslim-majority states. The broad asymmetry facing Israel means it cannot remake the region into liberal democracies or significantly reduce hatred of Israel, no matter how many wars Israel wins. Therefore, after every war, however successful, Israel must begin preparing for the next one. Israel's survival is not guaranteed by diplomatic agreements, but rather by objective strength and how that strength is perceived by enemies and rivals. National-security decisions must not rest on assuming deterrence exists. Whether it has been achieved is unknowable. One of the main lessons of the war concerns Israel's ability to defend its borders in future defensive battles. It is crucial to prevent the formation of a large threat close to the borders even in periods of quiet. Israel must adopt an active worldview that regards preemptive operations aimed at preventing the construction of a significant threat as an essential tool of defense. The importance lies in preventing the adversary's ability to create a border threat in the first place. The writer was national security adviser to the Israeli prime minister and chairman of Israel's National Security Council.