Former Israeli Prime Minister and Defense Minister Naftali Bennett presented a broad security vision for the next government that he aspires to head, placing Iran, Hezbollah, and Qatar at the core of his new doctrine, pledging to reverse the equation of confrontation on the Lebanese front, removing Qatar and Turkey from Gaza, all the way to involving the Israeli army and the Shin Bet in confronting illegal weapons within the Arab community in Israel.
According to a report by journalist Avi Ashkenazi in the Israeli newspaper “Maariv,” Bennett presented this Wednesday morning, during a special conference organized by the “Together” party, the main lines of his security vision, which includes declaring Qatar an “enemy state,” holding Iran accountable for any move Hezbollah makes against Israel, and granting Egypt a central role as a mediator and in managing the Gaza Strip the “next day,” as well as introducing the Israeli army into Arab towns with the aim of confiscating illegal weapons.
Bennett said: “On October 7, an entire security doctrine that Netanyahu had established over the years collapsed, and with it the worlds of thousands of families of the dead, kidnapped and wounded, and of an entire nation.”
He added: “What is more dangerous is that until now, and at this moment, the political leadership is still clinging to a wrong concept.”
Bennett also touched on technological developments, considering that “in the not-too-distant future, artificial intelligence capabilities may become even more important than nuclear weapons.”
Regarding the Lebanese front, Bennett presented a new equation based on holding Iran directly responsible for any Hezbollah movement against Israel, speaking of a plan to strike Iran locally through limited operations.
He said: “We will overturn the equation created by the government in the north: If Hezbollah shoots at us, we strike Iran.”
According to those close to Bennett, during the period of the change government that he headed, according to what was published by foreign media, Israel carried out operations against Iran within its territory with the aim of holding it accountable for its activities.
They referred to an incident during which Iran launched two drones towards Israel, before they crashed in the Arabian Desert, but about 36 hours later, according to foreign reports, a hangar containing 100 Iranian drones in Kermanshah was attacked.
In another incident, the Iranians tried to target Israeli tourists in Türkiye, but the Shin Bet was able, in cooperation with the Turkish police, to thwart the attempt.
Two weeks after the incident, according to reports published in Iran, a Revolutionary Guard commander in Tehran who had planned and led an attempt to target Israeli tourists was assassinated.
During the conference, Bennett presented what he called a “concept-breaking speech,” reviewing four security concepts that he considers wrong, and intends to change them in the next government.
The first concept, according to Bennett, relates to establishing an equation based on Iran firing at Israel in response to the attacks in Lebanon, while he proposes reversing this equation so that every shooting by Hezbollah leads to an Israeli strike against Iran.
The second concept is to deal with Qatar as a “complex state,” which Bennett rejects, stressing that he will work to officially define Qatar as an “enemy state.”
In this context, he said: “Whoever does not understand this after October 7 does not deserve to lead Israel.”
The third concept, according to Bennett, deals with allowing Turkey and Qatar to assume roles related to the residents of the Gaza envelope and control the “Peace Council,” while his plan requires removing the two states from the Gaza Strip and inserting Egypt in their place, while preserving the freedom of Israeli movement within the Strip.
In this context, Bennett stressed that Israel “will not leave the yellow line in Gaza and Lebanon.”
As for the fourth concept, it relates to the presence of about 500,000 illegal weapons inside Israel. Bennett suggests dealing with this file as a security threat, not just a criminal one.
His plan stipulates the involvement of the Israeli army and the Shin Bet Service in confronting this phenomenon, and declaring the areas where illegal weapons are widespread closed military zones until the weapons are removed from them.
Bennett presented his security plan alongside Yair Lapid during a conference organized by the “Together” party in Tel Aviv.
Thus, Bennett does not propose merely topical security amendments, but rather a doctrine that seeks to reformulate the rules of the Israeli confrontation on more than one front, most notably Lebanon, Iran, and Gaza, while shifting the response to any Hezbollah movement from the Lebanese arena directly to Iran, thus opening the door to more extensive and dangerous equations in any future confrontation.
