On February 19, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed 500 future army officers at Bahad 1, a military academy in the Negev Desert. The entire general staff and Israel’s highest-ranking officials were in attendance for the induction ceremony of the fresh-faced officers. “From Gaza to Yemen, from Lebanon to Iran, anyone who attacked us, felt the weight of our arm,” the prime minister said, before giving a detailed account of the country’s increasingly offensive military doctrine.

“If someone still hasn’t noticed, there are several important changes here in Israel’s security doctrines,” added Netanyahu, who has led the country for a total of 18 years dating back to 1996. He contrasted what he called the “defensive” vision of Israel’s founders with his own expansionist approach, shaped by the shocking military and terrorist offensive led by Hamas on October 7, 2023. “We went far beyond the borders of the state, to the enemy capitals – almost all of them. We operated in an unprecedented radius – at an extreme range – to fend off existential threats,” he said. Netanyahu heads a right-wing nationalist and far-right religious coalition, some of whose members advocate for a “Greater Israel” extending well beyond the country’s current borders.

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