In response to the challenges before it, and in order to create and realize opportunities, Israel should actively pursue primary goals in several realms:

1. Maintaining the special relations with the United States

• Israel should emphasize to the United States that it is rooted in the “camp of democracies,” and is willing to expand the political and technology dialogue between the countries
• Israel should express its public support for Ukraine and consider expanding the aid to it
• Israel should advance initiatives and bolster serious relations with Middle East countries in the military sphere (in the framework of cooperation managed by CENTCOM) and in the political-economic sphere (Negev Forum committees are one of the frameworks)

2. Advancing societal and law enforcement goals, and maintaining the checks and balances of democracy, with an emphasis on the independence of the judicial system

• The government should advance the five-year plan for the Arab society, as part of policy that aims to reduce gaps in Israeli society
• The government should expand the ranks of the Israel Police and the army’s capabilities in regular and reserve service, and in this framework also establish a National Guard
• Israel should maintain the system of checks and balances between the branches of government, and implement changes responsibly and slowly.

3. Advancing an operational option in parallel with the effort to form an international political front under US leadership vis-à-vis the Iranian nuclear program

• Israel should encourage the announcement of the failure of the negotiations to return to the nuclear agreement, and urge the implementation of the UN Security Council sanctions, given Iran’s violations of the agreement (the “snapback” mechanism)
• Israel should work to expand the sanctions on the Iranian regime beyond the nuclear context, in light of Tehran’s human rights violations and suppression of popular protests

4. Maintaining the potential for separation and stabilization of the Palestinian Authority

• The approaching end of the Abu Mazen era requires maintaining connections with the Palestinian Authority leadership and with Abu Mazen’s possible successors, out of an understanding that a dramatic weakening of the PA runs counter to Israel’s interests
• On the ground, it is recommended that Israel advance separation measures, while completing the security barrier and sealing its breaches
• Israel should implement a plan to strengthen the Palestinian security apparatuses under US auspices
• Israel should advance a master plan for Area C, mapping the settlement blocs and possibilities for Palestinian construction and development
• In the economic sphere, it is recommended to pursue measures that will expand employment in PA territories and provide relief, and to display willingness to reexamine the Paris Protocol

5. Deepening cooperation with the region’s countries and making the most of possibilities for expanding the Abraham Accords

• The lack of an agreement with Iran is fertile ground for deepening military cooperation with the region’s countries and should be maximized
• Israel should advance and implement economic agreements on infrastructure and climate. Regarding Egypt and Jordan, Israel should advance trade and deepen cooperation on natural gas, and implement the water-for-energy agreement with Jordan

6. Preparing for a military response and for actions to weaken Hezbollah.

• Israel should increase the political and economic pressure on Hezbollah with an expansion of the sanctions regime
• Israel should uphold the natural gas agreement and pursue efforts to leverage its potential, while advancing supervised economic aid to Lebanon
• Meanwhile, Israel should prepare a deterrent military response in the event that Hezbollah challenges Israel, as well as covert operations that continue to weaken it and stabilize the deterrence

7. Reassessing the campaign between wars in Syria and its focus on Iran’s proxies.

• Israel should restore the policy of ambiguity in the campaign between wars
• Together with the United States, Jordan, and Turkey, Israel should examine the possibility of advancing support for opposition regions and resistance forces in Syria, based on humanitarian reasoning and in order to weaken the Iranian entrenchment and maintain the weakness of the Assad regime as an Israeli interest

8. Implementing necessary reforms in military force buildup, with an emphasis on the conscription and service model

• Israel should advance the multidimensional conscription and service model proposed by INSS
• Israel should focus attention on ground forces buildup, in both regular service and the reserves, while integrating human–machine teaming capabilities in an extensive and responsible manner