Israel’s power and prosperity increasingly depend on the sea. Ports, gas production facilities that provide Israel with most of its energy, desalination facilities, and underwater communication lines each depend on littoral security. About 99 percent of Israel’s trade depends on shipping, and so freedom of navigation remain crucial not only to Israel’s security but also its prosperity.
Increasingly, ensuring freedom of navigation and protecting strategic facilities in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea constitute a significant security challenge.
Israel’s operational environment has changed. Growing accuracy and lethality of enemy armaments, especially from the north, limit the Israeli Army and Air Force’s abilities to maneuver due to missile threats. Increasingly the sea provides Israel with strategic depth, not only with regard to traditional naval activities, but also for ground and aerial warfare.
Israel’s enemies understand the importance of the maritime domain and vulnerabilities they can exploit. Iran and its proxy organizations, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis challenge Israel’s freedom of navigation in both the Mediterranean and Red Seas. The Houthi maritime blockade in the Bab al-Mandab and the Red Sea aims to influence the war that erupted on October 7, 2023, between Israel and Hamas and, to a lesser extent, Hezbollah.
Hezbollah’s concept of a future war involves a maritime blockade of Israel by targeting its seaports and striking merchant ships making their way to and from Israel’s ports. In addition, Hezbollah would likely shoot the gas rigs at sea to paralyze electricity production.
To address these looming threats, Israel has augmented its naval power to deal both with regular fleets such as the Syrian Navy and asymmetric opponents who would conduct commando raids and use unmanned vessels and launch salvos of rockets. The Israeli Navy, though, still faces many challenges:
- Using various sensors and intelligence to build an accurate, real-time, fused maritime picture that will enable the Israeli Navy to detect, identify, and eliminate any attack both from the enemy’s shores and in open seas;
- Development and deployment of platforms, technologies, and weapon systems to operate against threats in surface, underwater, air, and ground scenarios;
- Improvement of interoperability with the Israel Defense Forces’ ground and air forces to improve the Israel Defense Forces’ maneuverability and lethality;
- Coordination with international partners, especially with the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) and NATO, to counter weapons and drug smuggling and to fight maritime terror in the region;
- Enhancement of training of a new generation of officers and sailors well-versed in asymmetric naval warfare, counter-terrorism operations, and cybersecurity measures.
As the challenges and threats in the Mediterranean continue evolving, the Israeli Navy will increasingly be a crucial guardian of national interests. However, to achieve its missions and goals, the Israeli Navy must have a significant budget increase, enable a build-up process, operate more vessels, including more submarines, and build a fixed infrastructure in the Red Sea arena.
