Israel Has Nothing to Learn about Combating Terrorism from the EU

In a recent speech, Lars Faaborg-Andersen, the EU’s outgoing ambassador to the Jewish state, commented that “Israel has much to learn from [Europe] in the war on terror.” Fiamma Nirenstein explains why she finds this assertion “totally absurd”:

Israel is better than any other country at fighting terrorism. Otherwise, it simply would not have survived the wave of attacks that Europe now suffers. Israel suffers attacks on every possible front: from the air, in public squares, airports, streets, by fanatics of every kind—suicide bombers, Islamic organizations, lone wolves. This is why so many people, from the European government to security services, come to learn from Israel daily, on a regular and intense basis, about how to cope with terror.

I met Mr. Andersen at the King David Hotel [at a recent diplomatic gathering on this very] subject: how Israel’s endures.

One of the ambassadors attending said, “Europe could never behave like Israel because the Israelis are ready to send their children to fight and even die, which the Europeans would never do.” A very harsh assessment. Even so, I can appreciate this point of view; it is ultimately human. Nevertheless, I responded with the unfortunate truth facing Europe, “You don’t send your children to die, but they are being murdered anyway.” What choice does that leave the young people in Europe, who will find themselves in the middle of an attack without feeling like their Israeli counterparts—strong, prepared, and dedicated to their country?

Read more at Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs

More about: Europe and Israel, European Union, Israel & Zionism, Terrorism

What a Strategic Victory in Gaza Can and Can’t Achieve

On Tuesday, the Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant met in Washington with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. Gallant says that he told the former that only “a decisive victory will bring this war to an end.” Shay Shabtai tries to outline what exactly this would entail, arguing that the IDF can and must attain a “strategic” victory, as opposed to merely a tactical or operational one. Yet even after a such a victory Israelis can’t expect to start beating their rifles into plowshares:

Strategic victory is the removal of the enemy’s ability to pose a military threat in the operational arena for many years to come. . . . This means the Israeli military will continue to fight guerrilla and terrorist operatives in the Strip alongside extensive activity by a local civilian government with an effective police force and international and regional economic and civil backing. This should lead in the coming years to the stabilization of the Gaza Strip without Hamas control over it.

In such a scenario, it will be possible to ensure relative quiet for a decade or more. However, it will not be possible to ensure quiet beyond that, since the absence of a fundamental change in the situation on the ground is likely to lead to a long-term erosion of security quiet and the re-creation of challenges to Israel. This is what happened in the West Bank after a decade of relative quiet, and in relatively stable Iraq after the withdrawal of the United States at the end of 2011.

Read more at BESA Center

More about: Gaza War 2023, Hamas, IDF