Israeli Rabbi Outlines Seven Key Lessons From War Ahead of Elections

Rabbi Eliezer Chaim Shenwald presents seven crucial lessons from the recent war, emphasizing the need for voters to assess which leaders have genuinely changed their approach and demonstrated it through actions before official inquiry results are released. He stresses that while the public debate over the war investigation committee's format continues, the principle of thoroughly investigating the failure to draw lessons and assign responsibility is widely accepted. However, elections will occur before any official investigation conclusions are available, requiring voters to decide based on their understanding who should lead Israel in the coming years.

Shenwald identifies the root failure as a broad conception shared by many across political, security, intelligence, media, and judicial sectors, which underestimated Hamas and relied on economic incentives and intelligence warnings that failed to prevent the enemy's growth and surprise attack. He calls for restoring values of victory, initiative, and decisiveness, rejecting prolonged containment strategies that replaced true strategy. He warns that merely replacing personnel is insufficient without a fundamental shift in national security thinking and reasserting civilian political control over the security establishment, which has shown disregard for ministerial and parliamentary oversight.

Further lessons include strengthening education in Jewish and Zionist values to foster fighting spirit, redesigning border defense to prevent enemy entrenchment near communities, rejecting any Palestinian state in the West Bank due to strategic risks, and enhancing Israel's strategic independence politically, militarily, and industrially. He advocates restoring the Israel Defense Forces to previous force levels to fight on multiple fronts simultaneously and limiting judicial overreach in security matters to clarify the separation of powers.

Shenwald notes that most election candidates were involved in the failed conception to some degree, urging voters to identify those who have truly learned and changed. He concludes by invoking a biblical call to leaders to uphold their promises and lead with integrity, emphasizing that leadership depends on truthful speech and faithful conduct rather than political spin. The article is authored by a retired lieutenant colonel and head of a Hesder Yeshiva, Meir Harel Modiin.