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Eran Lerman

Col. (ret.) Dr. Eran Lerman, former deputy director of the National Security Council, is the vice president of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies.

It should be made clear to Israel’s partners in the Eastern Mediterranean that any (unlikely) improvement in Jerusalem’s relations with Turkey will not come at their expense.
It can be useful, that is, if three core principles are maintained.
Amid global turmoil and with Ankara seeking to lure away key regional players, the Greece-Israel partnership is a pillar of effective regional strategy.
The United States should be appreciative of any significant delay in Iran’s breakout timetable towards a nuclear weapon. The time gained can and should be used to negotiate a “longer, stronger” agreement.
Washington will bury any chance for peace if it reverts to the “Everybody Knows Paradigm” which demands Israeli withdrawal to the 1949 armistice lines
Allowing legitimate moral qualms regarding the war’s conduct to translate into Iranian victory would have dangerous and far-reaching strategic consequences.
Establishing coherent U.S. policy regarding brewing conflict in the eastern Mediterranean should be a priority for the new administration.
It is the most realistic route towards “two states for two peoples,” in contradiction to earlier peace paradigms that were dictated by unrealistic Palestinian expectations.
There’s a type of “self-racism” involved—a demand of the world to treat the Palestinians, due to their “suffering,” as not responsible for their actions in shooting another rocket at central Israel.
The erosion of Israeli deterrence as a result of what the Palestinians could interpret as Israeli “cowardice” poses a significant and real threat.
Given the broader considerations of the regional balance of power, as well as Israel’s fundamental interest in avoiding a ground war, it would be best to make the most of Egypt’s mediation.
If they did, in fact, see Gonen Segev as an asset worth cultivating, it raises questions as to the value of the information he supplied and the priority given to the information Iranian intelligence was tasked with obtaining.