During the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel achieved stunning military success against what seemed to be formidable adversaries. Yet Israel didn’t translate its military success into active diplomacy; if it had, the region and Israel’s position in it might look very different today. Israel may not have thought it had a choice to make back then: it didn’t believe it had viable Arab partners for peace, and its military dominance was far from assured, as demonstrated just six years later when Egypt launched a surprise attack and started the Yom Kippur War.
The situation is different today. After its 12-day war with Iran in June, Israel is in a far superior military and regional position than it was in 1967. It has neutered its most serious regional threats, and it has been decades since an Arab state fought a war with Israel. It has steadily degraded its nonstate adversaries, scoring surprising military and intelligence wins against Hezbollah in Lebanon last summer and continuing its decapitation of Hamas’s leadership in Gaza. Its attack against Iran achieved undeniable military success in damaging Iran’s nuclear and missile facilities.
Israel’s wins are not without limits, of course. Experts have questioned the full extent of damage to Iran’s nuclear program, and the strikes may have only strengthened the Iranian leadership and increased its motivation to cross the nuclear threshold. Houthi missile and drone attacks against Israel have also continued, suggesting that the diminishment of Iran’s proxy network is a work in progress. The Israel Defense Forces chief of staff, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, acknowledged in remarks in late July that “Iran and its axis remain in our sights; the campaign against Iran isn’t over.” Still.
despite these remaining challenges, the overriding Israeli perception is that the regional balance sheet is working in its favor. This is arguably Israel’s moment to leverage this favorable strategic landscape and convert its military success into diplomatic capital, restarting talks with the Palestinians that could create long-term stability and encourage more of Israel’s Arab neighbors to normalize relations. After the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat used his military achievements to advance a strategic decision to make peace.
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