Winning the war is not enough to permanently secure Israel's survival and security

Winning the war is not enough to secure Israel's survival and security, an editorial argues. Recent days have seen airstrikes, missile interceptions, and military communiqués as the United States continues its campaign against Iranian military targets, Israel engages on multiple fronts, and Hezbollah's infrastructure in southern Lebanon is dismantled.

These developments have created a strategic opening, with the IDF and a willing U.S. administration demonstrating the ability to strike enemies effectively. Iran's military capabilities have been degraded, Hezbollah has suffered significant setbacks, and Hamas has lost much of the infrastructure that enabled the October 7 massacre. However, these are real achievements, not yet victory.

Military campaigns can destroy launchers, command centers, and weapons stockpiles, but they cannot create a durable security reality on their own. History is replete with wars won on the battlefield but squandered through strategic drift, a lesson Israel has learned more than once.

The challenge now is to convert military achievements into lasting security gains. Any definition of victory must include the return of every hostage, living and dead, from Gaza. It must allow displaced Israelis to return home securely, with confidence that threats across their borders have been removed. It must also ensure that the sacrifices of Israel's soldiers produce a safer country rather than another temporary pause before the next war.

If Iran rebuilds its missile industry within a few years, the current operations will have achieved only a temporary reprieve. If Hezbollah returns to southern Lebanon under another unenforced international arrangement, residents of border towns will remain under threat. If Hamas is weakened but Gaza again becomes fertile ground for an extremist army, Israel will have postponed the danger rather than removed it. These questions should already be shaping decisions in Jerusalem and Washington. Lebanon offers the clearest warning: UN Security Council Resolution 1701 was supposed to keep Hezbollah away from Israel's border for nearly two decades, yet Hezbollah built a vast missile arsenal and embedded military infrastructure inside civilian villages, turning southern Lebanon into Iran's forward operating base. Israel cannot repeat that mistake. Any future arrangement must be judged by its enforcement mechanisms and Israel's ability to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding. Diplomatic promises have value only when backed by surveillance, consequences, and credible military power. The same clarity is required regarding Iran, which is presented as vulnerable.