‘No more containment’ – Netanyahu announces major shift in IDF doctrine

Prime minister says Israel needs a larger military as IDF shifts from mission of containment to initiative and “around-the-clock activity.”

By World Israel News Staff

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled a major shift in military doctrine Monday — one that would require a larger standing army.

The prime minister addressed a conference of the Forum of Senior IDF Reserve Commanders, which was also attended by Defense Minister Israel Katz (Likud) and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir.

During his speech, which was followed by a question-and-answer session, Netanyahu said that the multi-front war that began on October 7, 2023 – including hostilities in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iran – has forced Israel to reconsider the military paradigm of the preceding generation.

“We not only changed the Middle East, we also changed ourselves,” Netanyahu said.

The IDF, he continued, can no longer react to developments in the field and instead take the “initiative.”

“There is no more containment. There is initiative and around-the-clock activity. And we are doing that because we know who you are, and we know what an amazing military we have. Not only the regular force – with everybody calling this ‘the TikTok generation,’ and it’s obvious by now that that’s not the case – but our reserve force, which mobilized again, contrary to everything that the enemy expected. They were wrong – wrong about us, wrong about you.”

While Israel’s active-duty military has declined over the past 20 years, falling to 170,000 service members, the last two years of multi-front wars have forced the IDF to rely heavily on reservists, with more than 300,000 reserve soldiers called up at a time for extended periods.

Netanyahu emphasized that to confront new challenges, the Israeli military must expand both its regular, active-duty forces and its reserves.

The reserve force is a fundamental component, a core component. We need a big and strong military that is also smart. We will expand the regular force and we will substantially strengthen the reserve force, and also strengthen the families – because today the attitude is very simple, there is no such thing as a reserve soldier or reserve commander that is a separate unit with their family put aside. They are the same unit.”