Israel's Path to Victory: Triumphs and Challenges as War Rages in Gaza

As Israel confronts an unprecedented multi-front war, the Israel Victory paradigm offers a bold new strategy for defeating Palestinian rejectionism. This panel will explore the political, military, and diplomatic imperatives for achieving a decisive Israeli victory over Hamas. The Middle East Forum's Israel Victory Project contends that the path to genuine peace lies not in managing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but in resolving it through a decisive Israeli victory. For too long, the prevailing paradigm has been one of conflict management, incremental concessions, and temporary ceasefires. The current war in Gaza demonstrates starkly the failure of this approach. Experts will discuss the strategic and tactical adaptations Israel must undertake to secure a decisive victory and establish a more stable regional order.
Taking into account the lessons of the October 7, 2023, attack and the ongoing campaign in Gaza, panelists will explore the key tenets of the Israel Victory paradigm, including: the necessity of defeating Hamas militarily and dismantling its governance in Gaza; the demilitarization of Gaza; the establishment of Israeli security control; confronting the Palestinian Authority's "lawfare" strategy and its efforts to undermine Israel's legitimacy; overcoming the Palestinian rejectionist narrative; and fostering a genuine acceptance of Israel's permanence. The Israel Victory Project offers a unique and provocative perspective on the conflict, challenging conventional wisdom and advocating for a fundamental shift in strategy.
Panelists:
Gregg Roman is the director and chief operations officer of the Middle East Forum. Prior to joining MEF in 2015, he was the director of the Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. In 2014, he was named one of the ten most inspiring global Jewish leaders by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. He previously served as the political advisor to the deputy foreign minister of Israel and worked for the Israeli Ministry of Defense. He is a guest opinion contributor at The Hill and has been published in Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, the Miami Herald, and the Jerusalem Post. He attended American University in Washington, D.C., and the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya, Israel, where he studied national security studies and political communications.
Jonathan Schanzer oversees the work of the FDD’s experts and scholars. Jonathan previously worked as a terrorism finance analyst at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where he followed and froze the funding of Hamas and Al-Qaeda. Jonathan has held previous think tank research positions at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the Middle East Forum. He has written hundreds of articles on the Middle East and U.S. national security. His most recent book is Gaza Conflict 2021: Hamas, Israel and Eleven Days of War (FDD Press 2021). His other books are State of Failure: Yasser Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas, and the Unmaking of the Palestinian State (Palgrave Macmillan 2013), Hamas vs. Fatah: The Struggle for Palestine (Palgrave Macmillan 2008), and Al-Qaeda’s Armies: Middle East Affiliate Groups and the Next Generation of Terror (Washington Institute for Near East Policy 2004). Jonathan testifies often before Congress and appears on television channels such as CNN, Fox News, BBC, and MSNBC.
Boris Zilberman focuses on the organization’s governmental outreach, policy development, and political operations. He previously served as Deputy Director of Congressional Relations at FDD, where he worked on a range of issues encompassing foreign affairs, defense, and cyber-enabled economic warfare. As part of FDD’s Center on Economic and Financial Power, he focused on the evolving financial and strategic developments in the U.S.-Russia relationship. Prior to joining FDD, Zilberman spent five years working as manager of defense programs in the Department of Policy and Government Affairs at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Zilberman holds an M.A. in global security studies from Johns Hopkins University and a B.A. in political science from the University of Alabama. He is fluent in Russian.
Presented on May 14, 2024 in Washington, D.C.