At Channel 14’s Israel Security Conference on Tuesday, Brig. Gen. (Res) Erez Winner, chairman of the Bitchonistim movement, presented a surprisingly optimistic assessment of Israel’s security situation. Winner argued that Israel’s current strategic position is far better than anyone could have imagined a year and a half ago.
If people had closed their eyes 18 months ago and thought about what they’d want the situation to be a year later, “not one of those people, regardless of their political views, would have guessed we’d be in such a good security situation today,” he said.
Winner broke down Israel’s position across different fronts. In Gaza, he said, “we’re in an excellent security situation… we have our boot on Hamas’s throat.” In the north, he noted that “we’re in a good security situation in Lebanon, northern residents have returned home safely, Hezbollah is beaten and begging for a ceasefire and some kind of agreement to save itself.”
On Syria, Winner said Israel is “in a good security position in Syria, sitting on Mount Hermon and the Hermon slopes, protecting our Druze brothers.” Regarding Iran, the Bitchonistim chairman emphasized that “the Iranians didn’t fire in the last round when they fired at everyone… they didn’t fire at Israel because we’re threatening them.”
Winner wrapped up with a stark declaration about Israel’s regional standing. “We’re the one they fear in the neighborhood,” he said, adding that “the State of Israel, with its new security doctrine, isn’t the nice guy. It’s the one that knows how to impose order, to strike in every capital in the Middle East, to eliminate all the enemy leaders around us—and our hand is still outstretched.”