Israel has the intelligence capabilities to “put an end” to the threat from Hezbollah and can create the conditions for regime change in Iran during the war, Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chair MK Boaz Bismuth told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.
As chair of the committee that oversees key defense issues, Bismuth expressed certainty about Israel’s military capabilities against Hezbollah, which joined Iran in the ongoing war. He said he had been presented with IDF operational plans two months before Operation Roaring Lion.
The IDF plans showed that the military “knows exactly what it has to do to put an end to the Hezbollah threat,” and is determined to stop cycles of violence, Bismuth told the Post.
Bismuth added that he expects Hezbollah to continue fighting, but that Israel maintains the military advantage.
“Hezbollah has lost something that is really important for them, and this is Lebanese support. People in Lebanon are fed up,” Bismuth said.
'We are obliged to succeed in the war'
“I expect that Hezbollah will not stop and they will continue, but we are by far a stronger army and population,” he noted.
“We are obliged to succeed in the war against Hezbollah and Iran simultaneously," Bismuth continued.
Asked about how long Operation Roaring Lion is expected to go on for, Bismuth said Israel should not be “looking at the watch right now.”
“What you need to look at is the objective,” he explained. “I think that for too many years in Israel we looked at what we call in Hebrew the ‘exit strategy."
“After one day, one and a half days, immediately [we say] okay, what is the exit? How are we finishing it? What will happen at the end? No. This is now a war, and you’ve got objectives.”
Bismuth listed one of the main objectives as eliminating the Iranian nuclear threat, stating that the issue extends far beyond Israel and affects the entire world.
“You don’t fight Iran every day. I mean, this is something that we waited for. Iran is the issue, the challenge, the biggest threat, not only to us,” he said.
“All over Iran, it’s ‘death to America, death to Israel, and death to the West.’"
Another objective of the war was to weaken the Iranian regime, Bismuth added.
He said that he had been to Iran in his time working as a journalist before entering the Knesset and understood firsthand the need for regime change. “I’ve been there, I’ve seen the people, I’ve seen those women, I’ve seen those students, I’ve seen those communities over there who pray for a change."
“This is a regime that is first of all bad for its own people, for the history of Persia, even for the Muslim religion."
However, Bismuth noted that Israel’s role is only to create the conditions for regime change.
“It’s not our role to choose [who will lead],” he said.
“We respect the Iranian people. We’re not imposing a leader or a president. The Iranian people, whom I respect a lot, will make the choice, and this is how it should be.”
Bismuth also addressed the controversial haredi (ultra-Orthodox) draft bill that was being rapidly advanced in his committee. It was decided on Tuesday to “set aside” advancements on the bill due to the war, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced.
The proposed law has faced heavy criticism, with opponents claiming it is a political measure intended to appease the haredi parties in Netanyahu’s coalition and would not effectively enforce conscription. Meanwhile, the IDF has repeatedly warned of an urgent need for additional manpower, particularly after more than two years of war.
Opposition politicians had celebrated the current outline of the draft bill being set aside.
However, Bismuth said that after the war, the plan is to continue advancing the legislation once again, though he could not say exactly when that would be.
"We shall go back to the draft bill,” he said. "The army needs soldiers, and the haredim have to go to the army, and this [the bill] is the balance.”
Bismuth told the Post that the media had “totally deformed” the bill for political reasons.
“I’m very proud of my bill,” he said, claiming that corrections made in his committee would increase the number of haredim drafted into the military.
Bismuth explained that the legislation is currently being shelved to maintain unity during the war.
“We still have enough enemies, and the last thing Israel needs is to fight among us,” he said, noting that he "worked hard for this bill," so that there would be unity.
He also said that the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is currently focused only on matters related to the war and the state budget, which must be passed in the Knesset by the end of the month.
“We have the obligation to win the war. We have to win the war in a very clear way. The priority is that we win the war, and then we speak about all the rest,” he said.