The war for Israel’s home

Brig.-Gen. (res.) Erez Winner, chairman of HaBithonistim, identifies the “war for our home” as Israel's greatest threat, citing hundreds of thousands of illegal weapons in the Arab sector, smuggled from Jordan and Egypt or stolen from IDF bases. He warns that criminal organizations, potentially influenced by figures like Raed Salah, could escalate violence, pointing to a recent terror attack as a small example of what could happen simultaneously in multiple locations. Winner also highlights the Palestinian Authority as a hostile entity with tens of thousands of armed personnel, posing an existential threat if they join forces with internal illegal weapons.

• Winner advocates shifting Israel's security doctrine from containment to decisive victory to achieve deterrence, citing recent Iranian actions as an example of successful deterrence.
• He emphasizes that long-term stability and immediate threat elimination must be pursued together, advocating for a “peace through strength” approach, as seen in the Abraham Accords, to expand regional cooperation.
• Lessons from October 7 include the need to enlarge the IDF, improve defenses against drones and autonomous systems, and ensure security sustainability by diversifying procurement sources to avoid over-reliance on single suppliers.
• Winner expresses concern over internal divisions and political polarization, exacerbated by hostile foreign actors using online bots, which he believes distract from critical security threats and lead to illogical political alliances.