There were multiple calls from lawmakers and NGO leaders in the Knesset this week for Israel to create proxies to fight Iran, just as the Islamic Republic has formed and funded proxies to fight the Jewish State.
Israel’s Minister for National Projects Orit Strook, former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, and members of the Knesset from the coalition and opposition, along with dozens of senior military figures, past and present, family members of the fallen and kidnapped, and other prominent decision-makers and opinion shapers participated in the Knesset Israel Victory Caucus held in cooperation with the Middle East Forum Israel.
“It is time to use proxies against Iran just as they use against us,” Knesset member Ohad Tal, co-Chair of the Knesset Israel Victory Project, said.
“It is time to invest resources in psychological warfare programs that will destabilize the regime. The time has come for us all to wake up, for Israel and for the entire Western world.”
“It’s time to move from defense to attack. The Iranian government brings only death and bloodshed to the world.”
Director of the Middle East Forum Gregg Roman talked about a strategy that supports the Iranian people in their quest for freedom and justice, while safeguarding Israel’s security.
“Iran’s leaders use proxies to maintain plausible deniability. These groups, like Hezbollah and Hamas, act as extensions of the regime. We must counter this influence not just with military might but with strategic non-kinetic means,” Roman said.
“Non-kinetic coercion targets the foundation of the Iranian regime’s power. It exploits internal weaknesses to create instability, reducing their ability to support and command proxies. This strategy empowers the Iranian people to demand change. It addresses the root causes of Iran’s aggression, not just the symptoms.
“This strategy can lead to a decisive victory over enemies like Hamas and Hezbollah, but only if Iran is successfully countered, Roman added.
“Weakening Iran’s internal structure strips away its support for proxies, making them less capable of threatening our security.”
Strook spoke about the new awakening and the understanding in Israel since the October 7th massacre about what needs to be done to be victorious over its enemies.
“On October 7th we were awakened from the tens of years where they tried to placate us with stories like, peace is made with enemies, the rockets of Nasrallah will decide, and land for peace, and we did everything we could not to prepare for this terrible multi-front war,” Strook said.
“The amazing thing is the wonderful youths that we sent to the battlefield, including those who ran before we sent them, they have the spirit of heroism that was not wiped away during these tens of years. We owe them and all of Israel a victory. We will not return to Oslo or the Disengagement.”
Co-Chairman of the Knesset Israel Victory Caucus and Deputy Chair of the Knesset MK Evgeny Sova added that the war has dragged on because of a failed decision-making process.
“The most just war, after the worst single massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, is being dragged out as a result of a failed, anti-Zionist decision-making process in which at the end of the day the world still sees us as the ones responsible for the situation in Gaza,” Sova said. “We must work together to strengthen the consciousness of victory and for the establishment of a broad Jewish, democratic and Zionist coalition.”
Friedman spoke about his plan for how to end the conflict and the necessity of how the global debate about the one Jewish State should be ended.
The Israel Victory Project (IVP), created in 2015, seeks to steer Israeli policy toward backing a victory over longstanding violent Palestinian rejectionism to resolve the over 100-year conflict. This paradigm aims to convince Palestinians and Israel’s enemies that the Jewish state is permanent, drawing on Israel’s earlier and successful strategy of deterrence.
