RSS
IDF Relearning the Basics While Modernizing for Future Threats
Israeli troops during counterterrorism activity in Tulkarem, northwestern Samaria, September 2024. Photo: IDF.
JNS.org – The Israel Defense Forces and the Defense Ministry must soon make significant decisions about the future structure and capabilities of the military, prompted by lessons learned from the war it has fought since Oct. 7, 2023, and the changing threat landscape.
In the coming months, the IDF will have to propose a multi-year force-building plan, which needs to receive government budgetary commitment to be implemented, to replace the previous plan, Momentum, which began in 2020 and continued until the war broke out.
Momentum helped establish a network-centered war machine, in which IDF branches cooperated to quickly detect and fire on enemy targets. Momentum argued that seizing enemy territory isn’t the most important thing, placing the emphasis instead on destroying enemy capabilities.
Eado Hecht, a senior research fellow at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies and an analyst specializing in military theory and military history, told JNS there are several lessons for the IDF to learn from the war.
“Starting about 30 years ago, the IDF adopted an incorrect theory of future wars based on an incorrect appraisal of the direction of international politics in general and in the Middle East in particular,” Hecht said.
This mistaken assessment was a local version of “the end of history fallacy,” he added, the expectation that major wars and conflicts were a relic of history. Instead, the expectation was that modern technology and revolutions in warfare would enable Israel to make do “with only counter-guerilla, counter-terrorism capabilities,” and that hi-tech intelligence and air force capabilities would be sufficient to defeat any threat.
This theory led the IDF to downgrade its ground forces, Hecht noted, leading to a huge reduction in size, in which units were canceled and tens of thousands of personnel discharged from service, alongside the removal of a wide variety of weapon types from use. “Fields of knowledge necessary to conducting massed ground maneuvers were erased from training regimens,” he said.
“The first lesson of this war is that what became derogatorily known as ‘the old-type wars’ were not old or gone—they still exist and still require the same type of forces they did then and the same type of military theories, doctrine and training they did then. The IDF needs to relearn and rebuild its capability and competence in conducting massed ground forces maneuvers,” said Hecht.
“The second major lesson of the war is that the IDF had reduced its size to a point where it was barely capable of doing what was needed, in fact less than what was needed,” he said.
Two-front wars
While in the 1967 Six-Day War and the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the IDF was able to carry out defensive and offensive operations on two fronts simultaneously, against armies stronger than Hamas and Hezbollah, in the current Swords of Iron war, the IDF could defend on two fronts but only conduct offensive actions on one front at a time, Hecht said. Even on one front, the IDF had to act sequentially rather than simultaneously attack enemy forces across the board.
“The IDF will have to again increase the size of its ground forces. The answers to the questions ‘How much does it need?’ given the size and character of the future threats, and ‘How much can it expand?’ given the size of Israel’s manpower pool and economy, create a difficult tension that will have to be resolved gradually over the coming years,” said Hecht.
“In my opinion, the IDF needs three more maneuver divisions—but raising them will be very difficult, especially in regard to acquiring the necessary amount of equipment,” he added.
Hecht said that a third lesson is “the need to rebuild the reserves component of the army. The IDF not only reduced their numbers but also deliberately reduced their training—compelling it to retrain many units before employing them because people no longer remembered their skills.”
He highlighted the importance of traditional weaponry, saying the “fourth major lesson is that the weapons of old are still important. During the war, nobody asked for more keyboards and fancy equipment, everybody wanted more tanks, more artillery and more [armored] bulldozers. Some new tools are very useful—especially small drones and quadcopters—and every unit should have them, but they do not change the fundamentals of ground combat. They are an extra capability; they do not replace the veteran capabilities that were reduced because the IDF believed they were no longer needed.”
Finally, he said, Israel will have to adapt to the need to conduct long wars, which require large forces and large ammunition stockpiles, as well as spare parts, accompanied by enhanced wartime production to reduce the dependence on United States aid.
Hecht added that the IDF proved itself highly capable of conducting focused, powerful air-to-ground campaigns, as well as special operations and counter-guerilla operations, but that these do not replace the need for traditional massed ground operations.
Lengthen mandatory service?
On Dec. 5, Army Radio reported that the IDF would be purchasing some 15,000 quadcopters, enlarging its Combat Engineering Corps and creating new infantry units that would have access to advanced armored personnel carriers. In addition, female field observation soldiers will be armed with personal firearms, as part of changes to the ground forces, and observation posts will be moved away from border areas, following lessons learned from the Oct. 7 surprise assault by Hamas.
The IDF is also seeking to lengthen mandatory service to 36 months for most male soldiers to boost personnel numbers. The report said the ground forces have been conducting force build-up processes already during the war over the past year, aimed at creating a larger and better-equipped ground army.
On Nov. 25, the Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Finance announced in a joint statement that the Ministerial Procurement Committee approved billions of shekels in procurement and force-building projects for the IDF.
The acquisitions were made in line with the recommendations of the Nagel Committee, which was established in August 2024 to provide consultations on the security budget and the future of Israeli military force building. The committee approved several acquisitions, including the Reshef project—the next navy corvette—as well as the acquisition of hundreds of Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTVs).
The post IDF Relearning the Basics While Modernizing for Future Threats first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Algemeiner Unveils 11th Annual ‘J100’ List at Gala Featuring Douglas Murray, Matisyahu
British author Douglas Murray speaking at The Algemeiner’s 11th annual “J100” gala in New York City on Jan. 14, 2025. Photo: FotoBuddy
The Algemeiner unveiled its 11th annual “J100” list of the top 100 people “positively influencing Jewish life” on Tuesday night at a gala in New York City.
The event took on special significance this year, with Israel having been at war every single day since the Hamas-led invasion of the Jewish state on Oct. 7, 2023, and fighting for its survival on several fronts — most notably against Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis Yemen, and Iran itself. Meanwhile, antisemitism has simultaneously surged around the world during the conflict, with antisemitic incidents reaching record levels in several countries including the United States.
The spike in antisemitism and the war between Israel and Iran’s network of Middle Eastern terrorist proxies featured prominently in speeches throughout the gala. However, many of the speakers struck an optimistic tone, noting Israel’s recent string of victories against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“Fifteen months have now passed since the Jewish state went to war, since the Jewish people went to war. A terrible price has been paid,” said event co-chair Dovid Efune. “But it is a different world now. Israel has out-maneuvered its foes at every turn in a complex, multi-front war … The Jewish state has doused Iran’s ring of fire and replaced it with a ring of Israeli iron.”
The acclaimed British author Douglas Murray — who, as Free Press founder Bari Weiss noted in her remarks introducing him, has emerged since Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught as one of the fiercest defenders of Israel and the Jewish people — noted that the atrocities of the Hamas attack marked “the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.” He also noted the “deep challenge ” of combating pro-Hamas demonstrators across the West flirting with “the most dangerous, evil imaginable.”
“What does it say about us and the society which we’ve allowed to emerge?” he asked.
However, Murray continued, he was hopeful for the future after recently spending months with the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
“The real warriors are very clear. We all know who they are,” Murray said. “They are these remarkable young men and women. And we owe them everything. And the civilized world owes them everything.”
Murray was one of the honorees at the gala, along with Jewish singer-songwriter Matisyahu and philanthropists David and Debra Magerman.
Matisyahu, who was honored for his outspoken support for Israel and the Jewish people, said during his remarks that he reexamined his Jewish identity and faith following the deadly Hamas-orchestrated terrorist attack in Israel that took place on Oct. 7, 2023.
“After Oct. 7, I believe there was a paradigm shift. I was immediately forced to ask myself the question of what it means to be Jewish again and how important it is to be,” he said. “What does it mean to be a Jew now after Oct 7? Prior, the main division, seemingly, religion. But it seems that we elevated above that in a need to find each other. We are forced again to look inward. To ask ourselves: What does it mean to be a Jew? What does Israel have to do with being a Jew? If you don’t find the answer, the rest of the world will gladly find it for you, and whatever story they choose to make up — it’s not our story. The story of Moses and the Jews.”
The singer added, “May we continue to look within to find the answers we hold and may the shining star of Israel blaze forever.”
The gala also featured comments from Michal Lobanov, the widow of murdered Hamas hostage Alex Lobanov.
“After 11 months of unbearable suffering, on Aug. 29 [Alex] was murdered in Tel Sultan in Rafa,” Michal recalled. Along with other hostages kidnapped last Oct. 7, “their dead bodies were found in a tunnel in horrible conditions. Believe me, I saw this with my own eyes, the horrors that my Alex went through, together with the five hostages are the same horrors that happened in the Holocaust. Yes, we went through a Holocaust for the second time in history; there is no other way to describe it.”
The gala and Lobanov’s comments came one day before Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire to halt fighting in Gaza and release hostages as part of a phased deal.
Algemeiner publisher and chairman Simon Jacobson also spoke on Tuesday night and laid out the stakes of the current conflict, arguing that the events of today will shape the world of tomorrow in profound ways.
“We’re living in historic times. Events that are happening now are not just going to shape today, tomorrow, but the entire future,” Jacobson said during the event in New York City. “Every one of us senses it, whether it’s events, the different countries around the world, leaderships in crisis, but especially, which is close to our hearts, the Middle East, Israel, the Jewish people.”
Past Algemeiner gala honorees and participants have included the late Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel; actors Sharon Stone, Sir Ben Kingsley, and Jesse Eisenberg; human rights activist Garry Kasparov; the late entertainer Joan Rivers; media mogul Rupert Murdoch; former Czech President Miloš Zeman; the late TV host Larry King; Iranian dissident Masih Alinejad; and Natan Sharansky, the famed refusenik and international campaigner against antisemitism.
Founded in 1972 as a Yiddish broadsheet by the late veteran journalist Gershon Jacobson, The Algemeiner today runs this news website.
The post Algemeiner Unveils 11th Annual ‘J100’ List at Gala Featuring Douglas Murray, Matisyahu first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Dovid Efune: ‘The Jewish State Has Doused Iran’s Ring of Fire’
Dovid Efune speaking at The Algemeiner’s 11th annual “J100” gala in New York City on Jan. 14, 2025. Photo: FotoBuddy
At The Algemeiner‘s 11th annual “J100” gala on Tuesday night, the event’s co-chair, Dovid Efune, described Israel’s recent military successes.
“Fifteen months have now passed since the Jewish state went to war, since the Jewish people went to war. A terrible price has been paid,” Efune said. “But it is a different world now. Israel has out-maneuvered its foes at every turn in a complex, multi-front war.”
The crowd applauded.
Efune said that Israel “has firmly reestablished in the eyes of all, a role as a regional superpower. Israel’s young soldiers have shown themselves to be more valiant and more committed to their cause than their fanatic terrorist enemies. Its vaunted intelligence agencies have seized the initiative, reminding the world that the Jewish state’s knack for innovation has multiple applications.”
Invoking Israel’s series of hits against the heads of Hamas and Hezbollah, Efune said “we watched in awe, the systematic elimination of a line-up of Middle East terror chiefs. Those who remain are in hiding. The Jewish state has doused Iran’s ring of fire and replaced it with a ring of Israeli iron. The walls of David’s citadel again stand tall and firm.”
The post Dovid Efune: ‘The Jewish State Has Doused Iran’s Ring of Fire’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Algemeiner Publisher Simon Jacobson: ‘Times Like This Define Who’s Standing Up for Moral Clarity’
The Algemeiner’s publisher and chairman Simon Jacobson speaking at the 11th annual “J100” gala in New York City on Jan. 14, 2025. Photo: FotoBuddy
At The Algemeiner‘s 11th annual “J100” gala on Tuesday night, publisher and chairman Simon Jacobson issued a call for action.
“We’re living in historic times. Events that are happening now are not just going to shape today, tomorrow, but the entire future,” Jacobson said during the event in New York City. “Every one of us senses it, whether it’s events, the different countries around the world, leaderships in crisis, but especially, which is close to our hearts, the Middle East, Israel, the Jewish people.”
Jacobson continued, “So, as chairman of The Algemeiner, I feel especially honored that we are part of making history because it’s times like this that define who’s standing up for moral clarity amidst all the confusion, for values that we all cherish, that are the foundations and the basis of all civilization. That’s the time we’re in, literally every day.”
Describing three types of people — those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who ask “what happened” — Jacobson said “all of you right here and The Algemeiner, are people who make things happen. We don’t just stand at the sidelines and react but are pro-active. This is the time.”
The post Algemeiner Publisher Simon Jacobson: ‘Times Like This Define Who’s Standing Up for Moral Clarity’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.