MK Moshe Feiglin: Israel Must Revise its Erroneous Strategy

In an interview on Channel 20 television Wednesday evening, MK Moshe Feiglin discussed the Hizballah attack on IDF soldiers that had taken place earlier that day. Feiglin  said that Israel must take a new look at its strategic situation over the past 20 years. Wednesday’s Hizballah attack is one piece of a much larger puzzle. “We busy ourselves with analyzing the structure of the ever-changing terror organizations, the specifics of the current attack, etc.,” said Feiglin, “and do not consider the big picture. The big picture is that since Oslo, Israel’s strategy has been to flee – from Gaza and Lebanon – and to depend on the IDF to deter its enemies. The erroneous pre-assumption is that Israel can deter its enemies from within its borders. But we have backed ourselves into a corner.”

“In the wake of strong and constant leftist pressure,” Feiglin reminded the viewers, “the IDF has retreated over the years to the international border. Despite international promises, tens of thousands of missiles – some of them guided – are now aimed at every corner of Israel. This is the strategic picture, and it has major implications for how we deal with Iran, for example. It also influences the freedom of movement of the IDF today.

When the IDF had boots on the ground in Lebanon and Gaza, the entire picture was different. The greatest threat to Israel then was an attack on our forces there. Now we have missiles flying on Ashkelon and Tel Aviv, without any real ability to stop them. If your armed forces are not on the ground in the hostile territory, you cannot defend your own borders,” Feiglin said.

MK Feiglin emphasized that Israel’s strategy of the last 20 years has collapsed. “Currently, we are captive to any terrorist with a fancy missile, said Feiglin. “When the power plant in Hadera is in the crosshairs, either their missiles will destroy it or we have to pre-empt them and destroy them first. We must turn the picture back twenty years and restore the situation on the ground to the way it was so as not to bequeath the strategic threat on our doorstep to our children,” Feiglin warned.

After the interviewer said that she has doubts about Feiglin’s analysis, MK Feiglin added: “Years ago, many people like me said that we would have missiles on Ashkelon and Tel Aviv. The majority of Israelis chose to discredit us. Now we are saying that the Hadera power plant and every location in Israel are in danger. After twenty catastrophic years, maybe it is time to listen?”