Biblical Deterrence

One of the strangest aspects of the Iran conflict is that for months now, Israel has been spared the missile attacks and drone strikes that have continued to plague much of the region, especially Gulf States. Even at sea, the Houthis have refrained from hitting Israeli shipping in the Bab el-Mandeb strait. American assets have been targeted — in Jordan and the Persian Gulf, for example — but not Israeli ones. Miraculously, Israelis have returned to living full lives.

What is going on? Is this a fluke? A miracle? Or has Israel done something different, finding a formula to allow its citizens to live in peace?

The short answer is yes, Israel has done something different. Over the last three years, it has decimated its enemies through a combination of intelligence, covert ops, and kinetic decapitation unlike anything ever seen in warfare. Hamas is now but a shadow, and every terrorist who took part in Oct. 7, 2023 continues to be targeted. Hezbollah endured the beeper and walkie-talkie operations, its command centers devastated and its leaders eliminated. And the Islamic Republic itself suffered the loss of its top 50 leaders — military and clerical — including the Supreme Leader and, most likely, his heir. All of it happened with American approval and support, but it was the Israeli sword that came down.

Israel’s response, in other words, has gotten under the Iranian regime’s skin in a way that even American bunker busters and blockades have not. Israel chose to “play the madman,” and the mullahs are spooked. For now at least, Israel has achieved deterrence. 

It brings to mind a story in Genesis that people often have a hard time with. Its message is at once subtle, complex and brutal, and it rubs many of us the wrong way.

Jacob’s daughter Dina is taken captive by a local chieftain named Hamor. She is raped. Hamor’s son Shechem adores her, and seeks to negotiate for her hand. Jacob tells them: If all your men are circumcised, we can make a deal. They agree.

Two of Dina’s brothers, Shimon and Levi, are furious. On the third day, when the men of Shechem are at their weakest, Shimon and Levi slay them all and rescue their sister.

The story ends with an exchange between Jacob and his sons.

And Jacob said to Shimon and Levi: “You have brought trouble on me to make me odious among the inhabitants of the land … I am few in number, and they shall gather themselves against me, and slay me, and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.”

But they said: Should he deal with our sister as with a harlot? (Genesis 34:30-31)

Usually this is read as an inconclusive exchange. Many readers, squeamish about the violence and the nature of war in the ancient world, don’t want to believe that the Torah is taking the side of Shimon and Levi — even though they do get the last word in. Others don’t want to believe that Jacob, our patriarch and namesake, could be portrayed as weak or wrong.

But only five verses later, we read the following:

And they journeyed, and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. (Genesis 35:5)

We can distance ourselves from the radical violence, revenge and deception as much as we want. Literarily, however, it’s hard to read this story as anything other than a verdict: The sons preserve the family’s honor, and Jacob’s fears prove unfounded.

In strategic terms, we call this deterrence, and it is a fundamental aspect of survival in the global jungle. And while such tactics may not be morally appropriate or wise in all times and places, in the Middle East today, something seems to be working.

After Oct. 7, the sentiment in Israel toward the Iranian leadership was unequivocal: You went medieval — so we will go biblical.

Israel still has red lines it will not cross. Unlike its enemies, it does not target civilians or order atrocities (despite endless efforts to claim otherwise). It does not seek war, but when forced to fight, it will use every tool, including inventing new, unimagined tools, to allow its citizens to live.

Some people may think it’s not very Jewish. But maybe the entire purpose of Israel, of Zionism, was to expand our understanding of Jewish. Because the old understanding proved catastrophically limited.

Survival and flourishing, Zionists argued, are not just desirable outcomes. They are our right. And if we sometimes have to play the madman, putting the terror of God upon our enemies, so be it. 

David Hazony is Director of the Z3 Institute and editor of Jewish Priorities: Sixty-Five Proposals for the Future of Our People (2023).