When the Israeli public goes to the polls on March 17, the legacy of one man will sit firmly at the forefront of their mind, regardless of their voting preference: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Mr. Netanyahu has sought to demonstrate his importance as the defender of the nation, speaking to the U.S. Congress on March 3rd and releasing campaign ads that paint his opponents as not serious about defending the country,. However, Netanyahu’s focus on the Iranian nuclear threat has led him to neglect major threats to Israel that are closer to home, leaving the country more vulnerable to terrorism and insurgent attacks than before his term.
Israel has numerous foes in its near abroad, including insurgent groups in the Sinai, Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Despite Netanyahu’s emphasis on security, his administration has failed to address the major threats to Israel from these groups. In the Sinai Peninsula, the combination of Islamist rage against the military overthrow of Mohammad Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood government, and the appeal of the Islamic State has led to a vicious insurgency against the Egyptian government in the region. While the group has focused its assaults against Egypt, killing hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and civilians, it has generated a lawless atmosphere in the peninsula on Israel’s southern border. The violence has contributed to incidents on the border that have wounded several Israeli soldiers, but the Netanyahu government has taken no overt action to assist its Egyptian counterpart to fight the insurgents beyond cheerleading its harsh and counterproductive crackdown on the region’s residents.
Netanyahu’s overemphasis on the potential of an Iranian bomb has also allowed groups like Hamas and Hezbollah to grow in strength on Israel’s border. After the abduction of three Israeli teenagers in the summer of 2014, Israel launched a military operation against forces of Hamas’ Al Quds Brigades in the Gaza Strip. It swiftly became apparent that Hamas had succeeded in constructing a large number of tunnels under the Israeli border, which would have allowed large numbers of fighters to infiltrate across the border. The tunnel network caught the Israeli Defense Forces completely by surprise, and forced Netanyahu to expand the operation to destroy the majority of the tunnels, resulting in a much longer conflict and significantly more deaths than originally planned. Greater vigilance directed towards the threat of Hamas in Israel’s backyard could have detected this major threat much earlier.
Despite its involvement in the Syrian Civil War, Hezbollah has also increased its threat to Israeli security. The organization has drastically increased the number of fighters, small arms, and missiles in its inventory, allowing it to target most of Israel in the event of a new outbreak of hostilities. Most recently, tension escalated between the groups after an Israeli airstrike killed several senior Hezbollah and Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps commanders in the Golan Heights. Hezbollah responded with a missile attack on Israeli forces in the area, killing two IDF soldiers. Hezbollah has been able to use the war in Syria to boost its presence in the Golan area, creating another front for it to target Israel.
Netanyahu has earned significant criticism this election cycle for the deterioration of Israel’s domestic economy and for threatening relations with the United States, while he has staked his position as the defender of Israeli security for his outspoken opposition to the Iranian nuclear program. However, Netanyahu has neglected threats close to home, and Sinai insurgents, Hamas, and Hezbollah have all grown in strength and capability. Whether he returns to the Prime Minister’s office or not, Netanyahu or his successor will have to deal with the security vacuum the previous Netanyahu administration left on Israel’s borders.