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Israel Is Overhauling Its Defense Ideology; Will Arab States Finally Support It?

Israel’s then Minister of Economy and Industry Orna Barbivai and UAE Minister of Economy Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri present the Free Trade Agreement they signed, which is the first such agreement Israel has with an Arab county, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates May 31, 2022. Anuj Taylor Strap Studios-GPO/Handout via REUTERS
Israel is perhaps the most muscular and influential power in the Middle East today. When Israel changes its defense ideology, as per the Nagel Committee Report released last week, the region must take notice.
Under the new doctrine, Israel will not wait for its enemies to build lethal capabilities but will preemptively deny them the pathway to becoming a threat. Islamist Iran and what is left of its proxies remain the top threat to the Jewish State. Turkey is on its watch list. Moderate Arab countries face similar threats from Iran and Turkey, and have an interest in making common cause with Israel.
“Following the October 7 disaster,” the report reads, Israel must move “from a ‘containment’ and defense concept to a ‘prevention’ and readiness concept, alongside building capabilities for immediate and sometimes even disproportionate response.”
Another key recommendation is for Israel to decrease its reliance on importing arms, and reenergize its defense industry — a capable sector that was scaled back to avoid producing weapons and ammunition deemed not commercially competitive on the global market.
With some European countries and Canada threatening bans on arms sales, and with America holding up some ammunition every now and then to apply pressure, Israel has concluded that — even if it doesn’t have an industrial base of scale — producing arms is an issue of utmost national interest, one connected to the state’s existence, not one that must make economic sense.
Media reports state that the Israeli government has already awarded contracts to local companies to produce heavy bombs in order to reduce reliance on the US.
Less reliance on foreign powers means that Arab governments, which once hoped to use their leverage with world capitals to extract concessions from Israel, will have less ability to influence the policy and behavior of the Jewish State.
But since the moderate Arab capitals have vast overlapping interests with Israel, whether in curbing Iranian troublemaking and restricting uninvited Turkish meddling — and since world capitals will not stir Israeli policy the way that some Arab governments might want to — the best option for these Arabs would be to directly coordinate regional policy with Israel.
It is imperative that moderate Arab states and leaders realize the gravity of October 7 and how it has been changing the region. The event ushered in the third phase in relations between the Arabs and Israel.
In the first phase, between 1948 and 1990, the Arabs believed that they could set their population and economic weight against that of puny Israel and its economy, in order to force the world to make a choice. Israel won that round. The second phase was when most Arabs realized that, in a US-led unipolar world, their best option was a two-state solution. Israel played along. Thirty-three years later, October 7 proclaimed the end of that phase.
Now, in the third phase, starting in 2023, with America believing that the Middle East is not as geo-strategically important as it used to be — and therefore shrinking its footprint in the region while pursuing bandaid crisis-management policies — and with Russia watching its effort in Syria go to naught, and with China becoming preoccupied with its stalling economy, the Middle East is on its own.
Israel, Iran, and Turkey emerge as the successors of the great powers.
From an Arab perspective, of the three regional powers, the least expansive and intrusive is Israel, followed by Turkey, which puts its economy ahead of imperial ambitions and therefore limits its regional adventures. To the Arab people and other Arab states, an always expansive and war-obsessed Islamist Iran is the biggest threat, almost an existential one to most of them.
Against such background, it goes without saying that, of the three regional powers, Israel is the best option for the Arab states. Perhaps waiting for the Palestinians to figure out what they want, or who speaks for them, undermines both Arab and Palestinian interests. Arab states should reach out to Israel right away.
If they don’t, they risk becoming regionally irrelevant, sitting back and watching three powers vie for dominance while they wait to see who will emerge as the next boss. Hedging, at this point, and reaping the rewards of taking the right side, might be much better than waiting for the new regional boss to emerge, and dictate their will.
During World War I, Arab leaders did bet on the winning horse — the Allies. They did not get exactly what they wanted, but their choice proved to be much better than the disaster of flirting with the Nazis that some Palestinians and Iraqis did in World War II.
In the unfolding Middle East race, Israel has demonstrated its prowess. Betting on it looks like the safest choice for the Arab governments that seek stability to grow their economies and secure their futures.
Hussain Abdul-Hussain is a research fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD).
The post Israel Is Overhauling Its Defense Ideology; Will Arab States Finally Support It? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War

Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests

A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan

Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.