by Yaakov Lappin
If war cannot be prevented, the object is to win so quickly and decisively that the enemy will be unable to launch another war for many years to come.
Photo by Israel Defense Forces via Flickr CC
BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 689, December 18, 2017
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Though
it receives little public fanfare, war prevention is the IDF’s
number-one goal. If war cannot be prevented, the object is to win so
quickly and decisively that the enemy will be unable to launch another
war for many years to come.
At the end of October, Defense Minister Avigdor
Lieberman addressed graduates of a military officer’s course at Training
Base 1, deep in Israel’s Negev Desert. During his speech, he warned of
Iran’s attempt to place a chokehold around Israel, including an attempt
to take over Syria. He warned that Israel would not back down from the
need to act when necessary to lift this chokehold.
“We do not search for adventures, and our role is
to first of all ensure the security of the citizens of the State of
Israel, and to prevent wars as much as possible,” Lieberman said. “And
that occurs, first and foremost, through strengthening deterrence, and
through an effort in the diplomatic arena.”
Those brief comments accurately reflect the
priority list guiding the Israeli defense establishment. War prevention
is at the top of the list, but if war cannot be prevented, then winning
it as quickly and decisively as possible shares the top spot.
War prevention receives little attention among the
general public, yet it is a central planning component that guides the
decision-making of the Israeli defense establishment on a daily basis.
The merits of war prevention are self-evident. The
absence of high profile armed conflict, and the stability offered by
prolonged periods of quiet, cultivate the Israeli economy. They offer
Israeli citizens the chance to focus on their daily, routine affairs,
free from the traumas and severe disruptions created by conflict, and
free from enemy projectile fire on Israeli cities and towns. This boosts
Israeli morale and national resiliency.
A prolonged quiet also enables the Israel Defense
Forces (IDF) to focus on force build-up and restructuring programs.
These are critical in allowing the military to adapt to the challenges
posed by the 21st century hybrid terrorist armies that have
formed across the Middle East, and to prepare for the multiple
challenges posed by the Iranian regime.
Lieberman’s comments alluded to a central tactic
used to promote war prevention: deterrence. This is a somewhat hazy
concept and far from an exact science, but recent experience has shown
that it can be developed and fortified through a range of actions. These
include an effective force build-up program accompanied by the
selective use of Israel’s enhanced strike powers.
In the War Between the Wars – Israel’s low-profile
military and intelligence campaign to selectively disrupt the force
build-up of the Iranian-led axis – force has reportedly been used for at
least six years. In other words, low-profile, pinpoint military
strikes, made possible by breakthrough intelligence capabilities and
advanced weaponry, have served the goal of war prevention. They
demonstrated to enemies both the extent of Israel’s intelligence
penetration of their activities and the lethality of standoff, precise
firepower that can strike targets near and far.
These strikes also, according to international
media reports, place limits on the force build-up program of Hezbollah
and its Iranian sponsors by preventing them from becoming overconfident.
They are now less willing to launch provocations against Israel that
can deteriorate into war, as Hezbollah did in 2006 when it attempted to
kidnap Israeli soldiers.
In this complex security environment, then,
military strikes, if conducted correctly, can push back war and promote
the goal of war prevention.
“We will not hesitate, even for a single moment,
to prevent the Iranians from setting up a chokehold [in Syria],”
Lieberman vowed. Such a statement is designed to enhance Israeli
deterrence, and thereby serves the objective of war prevention. This
deterrence is magnified when it is backed up by action. This thinking
can be found across the Israeli defense establishment, and has been
alluded to in comments by the high command.
“The IDF’s first challenge is to prevent war, to
provide security, and to make every effort to enlarge the window of
quiet for the country, out of strength, and an understanding that this
contributes to national security, allowing the country to flourish and
develop,” IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot told the Herzliya
Conference in June this year. The second challenge is “to win in any war
– in combat against terror or in large-scale combat, in a crushing
manner, and to push back the next war.”
If the next war cannot be postponed, Eisenkot
said, the IDF will seek to win it so decisively that Israel’s enemies
will not be able to mount another military challenge for many years to
come. Thus, even plans for war are guided by the objective of preventing
the war that could come after it.
BESA Center Perspectives Papers are published through the generosity of the Greg Rosshandler Family
Source: https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/war-prevention-top-idf-goal/
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Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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