Jonathan Spyer is a British-Israeli analyst, writer, and journalist of Middle Eastern affairs. He is director of research at the Middle East Forum, editor of Middle East Quarterly magazine, a fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, a freelance security analyst and correspondent for Jane's Information Group, and a columnist for The Jerusalem Post.

Tensions on Israel’s northern border have escalated to the point where Israel has declared that it is ready for all out war against Hezbollah if necessary. What might trigger such an eventuality and what could be the consequences of such an escalation? Is the threat real or are we seeing the use of strong rhetoric as a deterrent against an all out war? (0:31-27:47)

For decades, since the glorious military victory in the Six Days War (1967), Tzvi Elpeleg used every possible public stage to voice his concern about the Israeli government policy, led by the iconic one-eyed Moshe Dayan, who was considered to be the architect of this military victory that took 6 days. 

This policy aim was to treat the Palestinians in the Gaza strip and the West Bank in a democratic and ‘enlightened’ way. The Israeli western assumption, led by Dayan, that this kind and generous approach would bring the Palestinians closer to their Israeli neighbors, was the ultimate mistake done by the Israelis, leading, sixty years later, to the horrors of October 7th. (27:53-56:56)