How 7 October forever destroyed the myth of Israeli military invincibility
A wrecked car hit by rockets fired from southern Lebanon in the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona, 5 May 2024
Sami Al-Arian writes in Middle East Eye on 5 July 2024:
On 22 September 2023, two weeks before the 7 October al-Aqsa Flood attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the UN General Assembly about “a new Middle East”. He bragged about Israel’s power and status as the enforcer of regional security. He held up a map showing a line going from India through the Persian Gulf, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, then to the Israeli port city of Haifa, and eventually ending in Europe.
This grand project was dubbed the India-Middle East-Europe Corridor (Imec), a US-sponsored initiative to counter the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). For at least a decade, the US has been seeking to reorient its global national security strategy in order to focus on its most significant geopolitical challenges, namely a rising China and a re-assertive Russia.
But in the Middle East, which is one of the most vital regions for US interests, it has opted to reduce its military presence and assign the role of securing its interests and maintaining stability to two of its most trusted allies – Israel and Saudi Arabia.
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Despite the unfathomable devastation taking place in Gaza…Israel has suffered a major strategic defeat, with the erosion of its military doctrine
Since the early days of the Israeli war on Gaza, the Zionist regime and the Biden administration were determined to restore the image of the Israeli military’s invincibility, which was severely tarnished by the 7 October attack. To that end, Israeli political and military leaders deliberately unleashed a genocidal war to wreak havoc on Gaza, making it unlivable and severely punishing its population, especially women, children and the elderly.
But despite the unfathomable devastation taking place in Gaza during the last nine months, resulting in an unprecedented number of Palestinian injuries and deaths, and destruction at a level not seen since the end of the Second World War, Israel has suffered a major strategic defeat, with the erosion of its military doctrine.
This doctrine consists of several military imperatives that the Zionist state has relied on for its survival and security since its founding more than seven decades ago.
Secured borders no more
One of the main pillars of Israel’s national security doctrine is the concept of “secure borders”. Throughout its existence, the Israeli regime has always attempted to establish buffer zones around its borders and ensure that the surrounding regimes are weak and amenable to serving Israeli and western interests.