Meaningful Security Requires More Than Living By the Sword

Israel's security will be assured when it is accepted by its neighbors and recognized by the world. That requires not just strength but smarts. Not just military might but diplomacy and compromise.

Security.

No concept or word shapes the views of Israelis and their friends around the world more strongly. The Jewish people come by a collective sense of insecurity honestly. Nearly every Jewish person has a story of family impacted by hate, forced to move due to oppression and persecution, or worse.

For Israelis, the enemies and threats they face are real, not figments of imagination. In its short history, Israel has endured existential wars, ongoing terror and present-day calls for its destruction. The horror of October 7^th only deepened and reinforced that sense of vulnerability and threat.

That’s why a third pillar of being pro-Israel is supporting the country’s security and ensuring it has what it needs to defend itself and survive in a rough neighborhood.

Staking out a position that is both pro-Israel and pro-peace doesn’t make one a pacifist.

The majority of pro-Israel Americans support the use of force when necessary. In the immediate aftermath of the horror of October 7, we provided near wall-to-wall support for Israel as it defended itself and pursued those who attacked.

Yet many of us who supported the use of force following October 7 also believe strongly that Israel must adhere to international humanitarian law and the laws of war.

We also recognize military force alone can’t resolve the underlying conflict between the Jewish and Palestinian people over the same land (see Pro-Palestine is Pro-Israel).

Meaningful, sustainable security for Israel will only come when the Palestinian people have freedom. Equally true, of course: the Palestinian people will only achieve freedom and self-determination when Israelis feel secure.

Numerous senior Israeli officials over the years have pointed to the unresolved Israeli-Palestinian conflict as the “real threat” to Israel’s security. In the words of former Prime Minister and one-time IDF Chief of Staff Ehud Barak: "Israel is now stronger than any neighbor or combination of neighbors. None of them, including Iran, in the foreseeable future can create an existential threat to Israel."

The real threat to Israel, Barak concludes, "comes from within — this strategy of the government to close the door on any option of disengagement, of what I call divorce from the Palestinians, of building fences that will make us good neighbors.”

This “existential” threat, as Barak and others put it, owes to actions Israel itself has taken regarding the territory occupied in 1967: never-ending occupation, seemingly limitless expansion of illegal settlements and violations of international law. This isn’t just my opinion, it’s the view of the overwhelming majority of Israel’s retired security leaders.

Failing to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict doesn’t just threaten Israel’s Jewish and democratic future, it’s preventing the greatest strategic advance of Israel’s 75-year history – establishment of permanent borders, acceptance by its neighbors and recognition around the world.

For decades after the country’s founding, the Arab world surrounding Israel was firmly committed to the country’s destruction. Life-and-death wars were regular occurrences. This experience shapes to this day the narrative many institutions and leaders in the American Jewish community still tell - a narrative that fails to acknowledge how starkly different the reality is today.

First of all, Israel is no longer a small, vulnerable nation surrounded by stronger enemies seeking its destruction. Israel is now one of the world’s strongest military powers – reportedly a nuclear superpower – and by far the region’s strongest force. Its recent stunning successes against Hezbollah and Iran and the decimation of Hamas’ leadership only reinforce the strength of its position.

Even more significantly, in a massive twist in the historical narrative, Israel is today part of the solution to critical challenges facing its Arab neighbors. That’s why those neighbors are so actively seeking normalization and partnership with Israel.

Arab countries in the Gulf as well as immediate neighbors like Egypt and Jordan seek to bring Israel on side to address regional instability and stateless vacuums. They are far more concerned about extremist groups such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda affiliates and Iran and its regional proxies than about Israel. And they see Israel as a real partner in creating economic opportunity for the massive pool of young people across the Arab world needing employment and opportunity in the decades ahead.

I’ll be talking more about this strategic opportunity for a comprehensive, regional agreement – what I call the “23 state solution” – in a future installment (see Principle 7 in “What It Means to be Pro-Israel”). Israel’s chances of seizing this singular opportunity to normalize relations and deepen security cooperation with its neighbors hinge solely on its willingness to reach a political resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

One final note: one cannot write about security for Israel without acknowledging the vital role in assuring Israel’s security played by the US-Israel relationship. Some Israeli security officials refer to America’s friendship as the country’s single most important strategic asset.

Maintaining that relationship requires broad-based, bipartisan support in the US, and that means ensuring Israeli policy and actions don’t cause any part of American support to begin to erode. The ongoing occupation and disenfranchisement of the Palestinian people – not to mention the level of suffering and devastation inflicted on Gaza – all risk long-term support for a relationship that is supposed to be based in shared values and interests.

The majority of pro-Israel Americans strongly support continuing to provide security assistance to Israel. They also support the proposition that aid to Israel should be provided exactly as it is to all other countries, subject to the same laws and restrictions - no more, no less - and not in the form of a blank check.

If Israel violates a law such as, for instance, the requirement that recipients of US aid not impede provision of humanitarian assistance in a war zone, there should be consequences. Lobbying to make Israel the only country in the world given US aid without limit or restriction will actually in the long run undermine support for Israel in segments of the American population.

Being pro-Israel in the 21^st century requires putting security front and center. It also should require recognizing that military strength alone will not bring long-term security.

In 2015, Prime Minister Netanyahu reportedly told a Knesset Committee that he believes that Israel will “forever live by the sword.” Current and former advisers have reiterated that sentiment over the years.

Yes, Israel must be strong militarily. The neighborhood is rough and the enemies real.

But it’s regional and global acceptance and legitimacy that will make Israel secure for the long run. And that will only come when the conflict Israel is trapped in with the Palestinian people is resolved – something that cannot be achieved solely at the point of a sword but will require statesmanship, diplomacy and compromise.