National unity “can’t be an empty phrase. We might as well all dance around the golden calf,” Likud lawmaker Amit Halevi told the audience on Tuesday at a Jerusalem summit organized by Professors for a Strong Israel.
The national camp “must establish the basic tenets that define our red lines; the ingredients that comprise our core [beliefs],” he continued.
The Feb. 9-10 gathering brought together Cabinet ministers, Knesset members, academics and security officials to discuss the nation’s acute challenges. The agenda at the annual event was split between navigating the geopolitical world post-Oct. 7, 2023, and forging a unified political front for the right-wing camp ahead of this year’s election, which must be held by Oct. 27.
Halevi said that despite his criticism leveled at his own political camp over the war’s handling, “if, God forbid, the left wins, all the problems that I mentioned would become peanuts [in comparison].”
Every time the left came into power since 1977 it inflicted damage on the country that was very difficult to repair, the MK continued. The minimum demand now from the national camp is to support the parties on the right to prevent the election of a left-wing government, Halevi added.
“On a personal level,” he noted, “I hoped that a cadre of senior [military] officers who served in the war [will establish a new political party] and bring a different spirit [to parliament] …, but I don’t see anything happening at the moment.”
Former Knesset member Moshe Feiglin, head of the right-wing Zehut Party, began his talk on Feb. 10 by disclosing that his party had been engaged in conversations about joining forces with “new political initiatives.”
Internal polls that Zehut conducted showed that such a political constellation may even rival the Likud Party, Feiglin said.
But he added that all efforts thus far have failed to bear fruit, hinting that differences over personal rankings within this potential bloc constitute the main obstacle.
Although he did not discuss in detail the identities of the other parties, he did mention IDF Brig. Gen. (res.) Ofer Winter among those who could fill the Knesset candidates list. Feiglin said he believes unification will eventually happen.
‘A minister is not a decorative object’
On Monday, the Jerusalem District Court ruled that National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir must not block the promotion of an Israel Police detective who testified in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial. Judge David Gidoni said that any further delay in the detective’s promotion “may intensify the concern of harm to police independence.”
Ben-Gvir, who heads the Otzma Yehudit Party, was informed about the decision while delivering his talk at the conference, held at the Olive Tree Hotel in the American Colony area.
“They think a minister’s authority is to be a ‘potted plant’ and not to make appointments,” Ben-Gvir said of the judges. “I did not come to this office to be a rubber stamp. I make appointments; that is my job. A minister is not a decorative object. We will fight this in the Supreme Court.”
In his broader remarks, Ben-Gvir emphasized the need for decisive decision-making, the strengthening of national sovereignty and maintaining the country’s foundational values.
Meir Deutsch, director-general of Israeli NGO the Regavim Movement, also addressed Israeli sovereignty, saying that his organization has recorded a significant improvement in the state’s law enforcement in Judea and Samaria.
In 2019, Regavim held a meeting with Cabinet ministers, who asked the defense establishment for data about illegal Palestinian posts built in Area C. “They didn’t know,” Deutsch related.
But since the formation of the settlement administration within the Defense Ministry in 2023, there has been a dramatic increase in the rooting out of illegal construction in Area C, Deutsch said.
A year ago, illegal construction in Judea and Samaria stood at 600 buildings per month. With the work of the settlement administration this figure has now declined to 200 buildings per month. “There has been a fourfold increase in the demolition of illegal structures, constituting about 1,300 demolitions,” he told the audience.
The caliphate from the north
Halevi spoke of Israel’s strategic situation in the region after two years of war.
Although the power of the Iranian-Shi’ite axis has been significantly degraded, Halevi stressed that it was still far from dissolving. The IDF, he said, killed 3,640 members of Hezbollah’s “military” force out of a total of 25,000 operatives on active duty and another 25,000 reservists.
Iran, he continued, has largely replenished its ballistic missiles arsenal.
Yet looking beyond the Iranian axis, Turkey has emerged as Israel’s No. 1 threat, the Likud lawmaker said.
“Turkey is a lot more dangerous than Iran. It has the second-largest military in NATO; it is a member of NATO. Despite its economic problems, it’s a much stronger political, economic and military power than Iran,” said Halevi.
After the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024—with the help of Turkish intelligence—Ankara has gained a shared border with Israel via Syria, he went on to say. And its motivation to destroy Israel does not fall short from the Islamic Republic’s, he added.
“These things may not be well-known, but [Turkey] has a carefully organized plan for the Sunni peoples in the Mideast. [President Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan is heading a forum of five with Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan,” Halevi said. Ankara also has improving ties with Cairo, while spreading its influence in Africa, he said.
The Turks are working tirelessly toward Erdoğan’s goal to restore the caliphate, Halevi continued, and “unfortunately, he has the backing of European governments, and of the Trump administration.”
Halevi concluded that while the regional antagonists may change, the core ideology that drives Israel’s enemies has not, and it continues to receive legitimacy from the international community. The main lesson from the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, he maintained, is to know how to identify the enemy and understand its motivation.
Military and civic courage
Next in the lineup of speakers was IDF Brig. Gen. (res.) Oren Solomon, who received the National Resilience Award for his personal bravery on Oct. 7, as well as for his civic courage investigating the IDF’s shortcomings before the Hamas-led surprise attack in the northwestern Negev.
Solomon, a resident of Kibbutz Sa’ad near the Gaza border, has held a series of senior command positions in the IDF Armored Corps and in the reserves, alongside significant public service as a division head at the National Security Council.
“On the morning of [Oct. 7], Solomon left his home with his son in order to reach the Gaza Division headquarters. When he understood the severity of the situation in the Re’im forest area, he joined an improvised team consisting of his son and two police officers, and together they entered the heart of the inferno. Although they were not properly equipped for battle, the four risked their lives and fought for 10 hours against large forces of Nukhba terrorists at very close range,” the Professors for a Strong Israel’s award citation states.
In the aftermath of the onslaught, the IDF selected Solomon to lead the Gaza Division’s internal inquiry. “Even when the system mistreated him in an attempt to silence the exposure of the [military’s] failures, Brig. Gen. Solomon remained loyal to the institution but did not forgo conducting truthful investigations to ensure genuine lessons were learned,” the citation reads.
The conference organizers added that the award for Solomon reflects the forces of renewal and rebuilding that arise from crisis.
In March 2025, a military probe was opened against Solomon on suspicion of releasing hundreds of classified documents at the beginning of the war. His role in the Gaza Division has subsequently ended. In October, the IDF announced that the investigation had been closed after no evidence was established linking Solomon to the suspicion, the Ynet outlet reported.
Taking questions from the audience, the reserve general vowed that his comprehensive investigation of the failures that led up to the Oct. 7 attacks will eventually come out. Currently his findings are under a gag order.
