BICOM

What happened: Prime Minister Yair Lapid chaired his first cabinet meeting yesterday.

• In his opening remarks he appealed to his cabinet colleagues “to manage the government as if elections were not being held”.
• He added: “The education crisis cannot wait. Budgets for hospitals cannot be postponed. The Iranians, Hamas and Hezbollah will not wait. We need to act against them persistently in every arena and this is exactly what we are doing.”
• He went on to highlight that a day earlier, on Saturday, “the IDF intercepted three hostile UAVs [Unmanned Ariel Vehicles] that tried to harm Israeli infrastructure in Israel’s economic waters. Hezbollah is continuing on the path of terrorism and is hurting Lebanon’s ability to reach an agreement on a maritime border. Israel will continue to defend itself, its citizens and its assets.”

First security challenge: On Saturday afternoon Hezbollah sent three UAVs towards Israeli offshore Karish natural gas field, located 100km off Israel’s northern coast, within Israel’s economic maritime zone.

• One of the drones was intercepted and shot down by an Israeli Air Force F-16 fighter jet.
• The other two were intercepted by a navy patrol boat operating Barak 8 defensive missiles. The first time this system has been used in combat.
• The operation was considered more challenging as the UAVs flew in an irregular pattern, at a low altitude, to avoid detection, challenging Israel’s early warning systems.
• With the successful prevention of an attack, the IDF also filmed and released the footage.
• Israel’s assessment is that the drones were unarmed and that this attempted Hezbollah operation was focused on ‘sending a message’ as Hezbollah’s leader Nasrallah has spoken out against the gas rig when it was deployed last month.
• Despite Hezbollah’s assertion, Israel maintains that Karish gas field is located south of the disputed Israel-Lebanon maritime boarder. That position is supported by the US, which continues to try and mediate and reach agreement on the Israel-Lebanon maritime border.
• The Hezbollah UAV mission was criticised by several Lebanese politicians, including Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, who said, “I wish this clash between Hezbollah and the IDF hadn’t happened. We have no interest in needless clashes, Lebanon is dealing with far more serious problems today.”

PM Lapid’s first speech: On Saturday night, Lapid spoke to the Israeli public in a live televised address.

• He spoke of the “common good; that which unites us. We all have the same goal: a Jewish, democratic, liberal, strong, advanced, and prosperous Israel.”
• “We believe that Israel must be a liberal democracy … nobody can be denied their fundamental rights: respect, liberty, freedom of employment, and the right to personal security.”
• Adding: “We believe that Israel is a Jewish state. Its character is Jewish. Its identity is Jewish. Its relations with its non-Jewish citizens are also Jewish. The book of Leviticus says, ‘But the stranger who dwells with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself.’
• We believe that so long as Israel’s security needs are met, Israel is a country that seeks peace. Israel stretches out its hand to all the peoples of the Middle East, including the Palestinians, and says: the time has come for you to recognise that we’ll never move from here, let’s learn to live together.
• We believe there is a great blessing in the Abraham Accords, a great blessing in the security and economic momentum created at the Negev Summit with the UAE, Bahrain, Egypt, and Morocco and that there will be a great blessing in the agreements yet to come.
• We believe that the Iranian threat is the gravest threat facing Israel. We’ll do whatever we must to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear capability, or entrenching itself on our borders. I stand before you at this moment and say to everyone seeking our demise, from Gaza to Tehran, from the shores of Lebanon to Syria: don’t test us. Israel knows how to use its strength against every threat, against every enemy.”

Looking ahead: The Karish natural gas rig is only expected to become operational in September.

• Israel has in place tight protocols to protect the rig, considered a significant strategic asset. It is constantly patrolled by the navy and  drones.  There are sophisticated radars and sensors that can detect aircraft, vessels on the surface and under the water.
• The IDF will remain vigilant to the potential for more attacks on its off shore gas rigs.
• US Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs Amos Hochstein is expected to continue mediation efforts to set the Israel- Lebanon maritime border, that will then allow Lebanon to develop their own off shore natural gas assets.