Home page / Media / Question of IDF Readiness For Next War Is Unanswerable
Question of IDF Readiness For Next War Is Unanswerable
Question of IDF Readiness For Next War Is Unanswerable.
.Amidror, Lerman and Golan at JISS conference
Colonel (res.) Dr. Eran Lerman | Major General (res.) Yaakov Amidror
By Eliana Rudee
Senior military and national security personnel “cannot really answer” the question of whether or not the IDF is ready for its next conflict, said former National Security Council chief Yaakov Amidror at a Tuesday conference hosted by the Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies (JISS).
“We don’t know what the next war will look like,” Maj. Gen. (res) Amidror said.
He maintained, “Major generals will always say that they’re not ready, that they need more time, and more money.” But nevertheless, Amidror remained optimistic as Israel is at peace with Egypt, the only powerful army on Israel’s border.
JISS, Jerusalem’s new conservative think tank, held its second conference on December 27 in Jerusalem. In addition to Amidror, the conference also featured former IDF deputy chief of staff Maj. Gen. Yair Golan and other IDF leaders, journalists, and JISS Fellows.
JISS Vice President Colonel (res.) Dr. Eran Lerman opened the conference, suggesting that “change is difficult in the military” but that the Israeli army in particular is a “learning organization.”
Amidror discussed vital infrastructure that offers the IDF with new capabilities, as well as enemy infrastructure that provides new challenges to Israeli security.
On Hezbollah’s precision rockets, Amidror maintained that Israel has a lot of work to do to ensure that the northern home front is secure. With rockets and 50,000-60,000 fighters in Hezbollah’s fleet, intelligence will be key, as it was during the 2006 Second Lebanon War, when intelligence “didn’t work well enough.”
Amidror is now optimistic that the IDF’s “more precise” arms and sensors will help towards such efforts. He added that drones will continue to have more impact, perhaps exceeding forces piloted by IDF pilots and aircrafts.
Amidror alleged that the IDF is investing enormous resources in the cyber arena, which is “a huge challenge” yet it is vital to ensure that the IDF network is not hacked.
The F-35 fighter jets, with their ability to provide cockpits with information that in the past could only be found in headquarters, are changing how the air force works and are also changing Israel to a robust power in the skies, he continued.
Amidror endorsed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s submarine purchases from Germany. He views the prime minister as having a broader strategic view as compared to others in the security establishment, and further maintained that the navy can continue to project its power and provide security through Israel’s natural gas reserves.
Maj. Gen. Yair Golan touched on current challenges and various security threats such as Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, and the Palestinian Unity Government.
Israel’s current challenges, he maintained, are hitting enemy forces on the front lines using real-time precision intelligence and increasing the amount of time that the IDF allocates to training unit-level officers.
As one who took part in approving the IDF strategy to address Hamas tunnels, Golan endorsed the army’s tactic of building an underground barrier along the Gaza border as an unequivocal necessity. “We need to get to a point where we can say to the residents of the Gaza corridor that the tunnel threat is zero,” he said.
JISS houses a distinguished team of experts with deep knowledge in national security, geopolitics, and military strategy. These specialists have served in critical roles across the military, academia, and diplomatic spheres, enabling them to provide nuanced analyses of regional and global challenges.
Colonel (res.) Dr. Eran Lerman
Dr. Lerman is deputy director of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS). He was deputy director for foreign policy and international affairs at the National Security Council in the Israeli Prime Minister's Office. He held senior posts in IDF Military Intelligence for over 20 years. He also served for eight years as director of the Israel and Middle East office of the American Jewish Committee. He teaches in the Middle East studies program at Shalem College in Jerusalem, and in post-graduate programs at Tel Aviv University and the National Defense College. He is an expert on Israel’s foreign relations, and on the Middle East. A third-generation Sabra, he holds a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics, and a mid-career MPA from Harvard University.
Major General (res.) Yaakov Amidror
General Yaakov Amidror is the Anne and Greg Rosshandler Senior Fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS). He was National Security Advisor to Prime Minister Netanyahu and chairman of the National Security Council (April 2011-November 2013). He served for 36 years in senior IDF posts (1966-2002), including commander of the Military Colleges (including the National Defense College, Staff and Command College, and Tactical Command Academy), military secretary to the Minister of Defense, director of the Intelligence Analysis Division in Military Intelligence, and chief intelligence officer of the Northern Command. He is a distinguished fellow at JINSA's Gemunder Center. He is the author of three books on intelligence and military strategy, Reflections on Army and Security (Hebrew, 2002), Intelligence, Theory and Practice (Hebrew, 2006), and Winning Counterinsurgency War: The Israeli Experience (JCPA, 2008).
Watch the recording of the webinar that took place April 3, 2025. Hosted by Brig....
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Home page / Media / Question of IDF Readiness For Next War Is Unanswerable
Question of IDF Readiness For Next War Is Unanswerable
By Eliana Rudee
Senior military and national security personnel “cannot really answer” the question of whether or not the IDF is ready for its next conflict, said former National Security Council chief Yaakov Amidror at a Tuesday conference hosted by the Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies (JISS).
“We don’t know what the next war will look like,” Maj. Gen. (res) Amidror said.
He maintained, “Major generals will always say that they’re not ready, that they need more time, and more money.” But nevertheless, Amidror remained optimistic as Israel is at peace with Egypt, the only powerful army on Israel’s border.
JISS, Jerusalem’s new conservative think tank, held its second conference on December 27 in Jerusalem. In addition to Amidror, the conference also featured former IDF deputy chief of staff Maj. Gen. Yair Golan and other IDF leaders, journalists, and JISS Fellows.
JISS Vice President Colonel (res.) Dr. Eran Lerman opened the conference, suggesting that “change is difficult in the military” but that the Israeli army in particular is a “learning organization.”
Amidror discussed vital infrastructure that offers the IDF with new capabilities, as well as enemy infrastructure that provides new challenges to Israeli security.
On Hezbollah’s precision rockets, Amidror maintained that Israel has a lot of work to do to ensure that the northern home front is secure. With rockets and 50,000-60,000 fighters in Hezbollah’s fleet, intelligence will be key, as it was during the 2006 Second Lebanon War, when intelligence “didn’t work well enough.”
Amidror is now optimistic that the IDF’s “more precise” arms and sensors will help towards such efforts. He added that drones will continue to have more impact, perhaps exceeding forces piloted by IDF pilots and aircrafts.
Amidror alleged that the IDF is investing enormous resources in the cyber arena, which is “a huge challenge” yet it is vital to ensure that the IDF network is not hacked.
The F-35 fighter jets, with their ability to provide cockpits with information that in the past could only be found in headquarters, are changing how the air force works and are also changing Israel to a robust power in the skies, he continued.
Amidror endorsed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s submarine purchases from Germany. He views the prime minister as having a broader strategic view as compared to others in the security establishment, and further maintained that the navy can continue to project its power and provide security through Israel’s natural gas reserves.
Maj. Gen. Yair Golan touched on current challenges and various security threats such as Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, and the Palestinian Unity Government.
Israel’s current challenges, he maintained, are hitting enemy forces on the front lines using real-time precision intelligence and increasing the amount of time that the IDF allocates to training unit-level officers.
As one who took part in approving the IDF strategy to address Hamas tunnels, Golan endorsed the army’s tactic of building an underground barrier along the Gaza border as an unequivocal necessity. “We need to get to a point where we can say to the residents of the Gaza corridor that the tunnel threat is zero,” he said.
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JISS houses a distinguished team of experts with deep knowledge in national security, geopolitics, and military strategy. These specialists have served in critical roles across the military, academia, and diplomatic spheres, enabling them to provide nuanced analyses of regional and global challenges.
Colonel (res.) Dr. Eran Lerman
Dr. Lerman is deputy director of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS). He was deputy director for foreign policy and international affairs at the National Security Council in the Israeli Prime Minister's Office. He held senior posts in IDF Military Intelligence for over 20 years. He also served for eight years as director of the Israel and Middle East office of the American Jewish Committee. He teaches in the Middle East studies program at Shalem College in Jerusalem, and in post-graduate programs at Tel Aviv University and the National Defense College. He is an expert on Israel’s foreign relations, and on the Middle East. A third-generation Sabra, he holds a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics, and a mid-career MPA from Harvard University.
Major General (res.) Yaakov Amidror
General Yaakov Amidror is the Anne and Greg Rosshandler Senior Fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS). He was National Security Advisor to Prime Minister Netanyahu and chairman of the National Security Council (April 2011-November 2013). He served for 36 years in senior IDF posts (1966-2002), including commander of the Military Colleges (including the National Defense College, Staff and Command College, and Tactical Command Academy), military secretary to the Minister of Defense, director of the Intelligence Analysis Division in Military Intelligence, and chief intelligence officer of the Northern Command. He is a distinguished fellow at JINSA's Gemunder Center. He is the author of three books on intelligence and military strategy, Reflections on Army and Security (Hebrew, 2002), Intelligence, Theory and Practice (Hebrew, 2006), and Winning Counterinsurgency War: The Israeli Experience (JCPA, 2008).
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