IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin spoke on the final day of the JNS international policy conference, outlining his view of Israel’s current situation and why he remains optimistic. He said the IDF is acting proactively to remove threats, and argued that the army’s values are not a weakness but its source of strength.
Defrin said the Abraham Accords, made possible by President Trump’s leadership, helped create a new regional architecture based on shared interests and opportunities. He said he has met military leaders across the Middle East who wanted to work with Israel.
Addressing the battlefield challenge, he said Israeli soldiers are fighting an enemy that hides among civilians. “Our soldiers face an enemy hiding within a civilian population, this is the battlefield they are confronting,” he said. He added that despite this, they continue to operate with precision and according to IDF values. “Our enemies see our values as a weakness, we see them as our source of strength,” he said.
Defrin also described visiting a young female operator in his unit who was wounded by an explosive drone launched by Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon. He said she was focused on returning to duty. He then outlined the IDF’s updated operational approach, saying the lesson of the war is that protecting civilians does not allow waiting for the next attack, and that a ceasefire cannot mean a return to the situation that existed before the war. The army, he said, will stay on the front line as a buffer until the threat is removed.
He also referred to the recent tank tragedy and to a condolence visit he made to the family of Lt. Col. Dor Ben Shimon, who was killed while leading soldiers in southern Lebanon. Ben Shimon had named his infant daughter Gaia after his close friend, Maj. Guy Nazri, who fell after being wounded in combat in Jabalia. Defrin ended by saying that after more than 30 years of service, Israel’s greatest strength is not its tanks, aircraft, or technology, but its people.
