Former IDF Major General Noam Tibon, ex-commander of Judea and Samaria and the Northern Corps and currently a member of the Yesh Atid party, spoke this morning (Wednesday) on Radio 103FM about Israel’s security policy.
“The security approach I have long advocated is simple: since October 7, we cannot pursue a policy of containment,” Tibon said. He criticized the government’s approach, arguing that “Netanyahu’s reckless policy allowed Iran to build a ring of fire around us. What threatens us must be struck.”
Tibon stressed that if Iran resumes activity that endangers Israel, the country must act preemptively. “If Iran becomes active in a way that threatens the State of Israel, it must be attacked before it becomes a direct threat,” he said.
He called for adopting a strategy of preventive war to stop threats from gaining strength near Israel’s borders. “The security concept I promote must include preventive action, to prevent monsters from growing next to our border and to ensure that nothing like October 7 ever happens again,” he explained.
At the same time, Tibon emphasized that military achievements must be accompanied by political moves. “Throughout the war, I warned that after every military success there must be a political achievement to leverage what the army accomplished and turn it into a reality-changing agreement on the ground,” he said.
While he noted that a political agreement with Iran is impossible, he suggested that Israel could have secured more significant arrangements with northern neighbors. “On Syria and Lebanon, far more dramatic agreements were possible that would have brought much greater security. Instead, Hezbollah continues to arm itself, and the picture in Syria remains unclear. Winning a war requires two legs: a clear military and political strategy.”
When asked what kind of arrangements he envisioned, Tibon said the goal was for Lebanon to have one state and one army, “so there’s no state within a state. If that doesn’t work, you must be ready to act with force.”
Addressing the future of Gaza, he said Israel has lost the ability to shape the political outcome. “Because we didn’t reach proper agreements, Trump and the United States, not Israel, are those deciding Gaza’s future,” he said. “Egypt, not Qatar or Turkey, must be the ones leading the security campaign. Otherwise, someone else is deciding our fate-and that is extremely dangerous.”