Nine days before Israeli elections on October 27, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented a new national security doctrine advocating preemptive strikes and border buffer zones, drawing sharp criticism from opposition leaders, who slammed it as ‘empty slogans’ ahead of the vote.
The three-page document announced on Sunday, outlines 10 principles for what Netanyahu presents as a revamped security strategy following years of regional conflict.
Titled “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Security Doctrine,” the document was published on the Israeli government’s website and prepared with assistance from the National Security Council.
In its introduction, Netanyahu claimed that Israeli military operations from Gaza and Lebanon to Yemen and Iran had eliminated an imminent threat of nuclear annihilation and dismantled an Iranian-led network encircling the Zionist entity.
He presented those claimed achievements as grounds for a fundamental shift in Israeli security approach, giving “priority to preemptive attacks over containment and defense.”
The document calls for strikes against “emerging threats along with stronger military deterrence, intelligence capabilities and early warning systems.”
It also advocates establishing buffer zones along borders with occupied Palestine when deemed necessary, without identifying where they would be located or which neighboring territories could be affected.
🚨Israeli occupation Netanyahu unveiled a regional security map depicting three shifting power blocs during his address on occupation’s new national security doctrine. ▪️The map utilized by Netanyahu was originally published five months earlier, on May 19, 2026, by Germany’s Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung foundation, with analysis by experts Marc Saxer & Marcus Schneider. ▪️Includes "Israel" & the United Arab Emirates (UAE), alongside regional allies & friendly territories such as Ethiopia, Somaliland, Puntland, and RSF-controlled areas of Sudan. ▪️Comprises Iran, Iraq, Lebanon & Yemen (specifically Ansar Allah factions). ▪️For months leading up to the Makkah pact, the foreign ministers of Turkiye, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia & Egypt held highly visible, structured consultations under an explicit diplomatic grouping known as "The Regional Four" ( minus Egypt, which has not joined the pact yet) "Geopolitical maps presented by Netanyahu often serve as a prelude to military action & regional restructuring."
— ⚡️🌎 Sarwar 🌐⚡️ (@ferozwala) October 19, 2026
The document’s release comes as Netanyahu campaigns for another term amid criticism of his government’s handling of security failures preceding the Hamas-led October 2023 attacks and the wars that followed.
Opposition leaders accuse him of exploiting security threats for electoral gain while avoiding accountability for those failures.
Israeli Opposition Slams Netanyahu’s Document
Commenting on Sunday’s document, Opposition leader Yair Lapid ridiculed it as “superficial” and “bizarre,” saying it looked as though it had been written by the free version of an AI chatbot.
Lapid argued that the doctrine offered little beyond broad declarations and failed to confront Netanyahu’s responsibility for Israeli previous security failures.
He criticized Netanyahu’s refusal to establish an official commission of inquiry into the failures surrounding the October 2023 attacks as well as his record on expanding normalization agreements with Arab countries.
Lapid also pointed to contradictions between the document’s principles and Netanyahu’s policies, particularly over military service exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jews, deteriorating international relations and deepening divisions within Israeli society.
For his part, Gadi Eisenkot, a former Israeli army chief of staff and the leader of the opposition Yashar party, dismissed it as “empty pages filled with slogans,” accusing Netanyahu of leaving a “strategic vacuum” in Israel’s security policy.
He said the document reflected the “strategic vacuum” left by Netanyahu, arguing that its publication just nine days before the elections was an attempt to divert attention from the government’s record.
Eisenkot accused the prime minister of “manipulating public perceptions, stoking fear and seeking to distract voters from lies and racism” surrounding Netanyahu’s election campaign.
The former military chief also challenged Netanyahu’s account of Israeli military achievements, claiming that Hamas continued to maintain armed forces in Gaza while Hezbollah was rebuilding its capabilities in Lebanon.
He also accused Netanyahu of failing to achieve key wartime objectives and refusing to investigate the failures preceding the October 2023 attacks.
Eisenkot pledged that an opposition-led government would draw up and approve a formal national security strategy within 150 days of taking office.
Source: Agencies (translated and edited by Al-Manar)