Shay Shabtai
ARTICLES BY: Shay Shabtai
Despite the Ongoing War, Israel Must Build Up Its Natural Strengths
Since October 2023, the State of Israel’s main strategic vector has been a campaign against enemies in the region centered around Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah...
Why IDF Intelligence Needs to Be Better — And How to Improve It
The IDF’s current mechanism for determining and providing intelligence assessments rigidifies the thinking of intelligence analysts, and increases the risk that they will not recognize...
What Comes Next in Gaza? Here Are Some Options — and the Best Solution
Discussions about the future of Gaza are being conducted in isolation, without comparative discourse, and the political dimension is causing opinions to harden rather than...
The Seven ‘Sins’ of Intelligence After October 7
In the wake of the massive intelligence failure of October 7, fundamental changes will have to be made to Israeli national security doctrine. The intelligence...
What Would ‘Total Victory’ Mean in Gaza?
In recent years, the concept of decisive victory has eroded in Israel, but October 7 brought it forcefully back to the center of the national...
How Can Israel Complete Its Victory in the Swords of Iron War?
The security-military failure of October 7, 2023, revealed fundamental flaws in Israel’s national security doctrine. Those flaws led to the collapse of defense lines and...
How October 7 Should Change Israel’s National Security Calculus
The events of October 7 marked a total collapse of the basic principles of Israel’s national security doctrine. Three of the four basic components --...
Any Hostage Swap Would Be a Terrible Mistake for Israel
Until the end of the 1970s, Israel’s policy on hostages, prisoners, and missing persons was based on national considerations. The Entebbe Doctrine permitted no negotiations...
Seven Things That Israel Must Do in Gaza to Restore Peace
Hamas’ surprise attack on October 7, fundamentally changed Israel’s strategic situation. Premises based on past events are not applicable to the new situation and hinder...
Iron Swords: A Fundamental Miscalculation on Both Sides That Must Lead to the Defeat of Hamas
On Saturday, October 7, 2023, at 6:30 a.m., Israel’s current security doctrine collapsed after 20-plus years. Hamas initiated a planned and organized surprise invasion of...
A Better Way to Implement Israeli Constitutional Reform
As is often the case with Israeli strategic decision-making, the current debate in Israel on a semi-constitutional reform is being carried out in an improvised...
