Maritime defense in the context of day-to-day security requires navy and aerial patrols, along with the deployment of coastal defense systems, in order to detect threats to targets in Israel's economic waters.
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At the same time, Israel must also monitor the terrorist elements in the various arenas, and at times, it is necessary to act against these infrastructures in order to thwart their nefarious plans.
Israel sits on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, and at the northern end of the Gulf of Eilat and the Red Sea. The latter's is immensely important to Israel for historical and other reasons, among them the fact that the volume of its land trade is very low, and the sea is the main transportation artery of goods to and from the Jewish state.
Over 90% of goods exported and imported to Israel travel by sea, making waterways Israel's main commercial avenue, and one that has become exponentially more important in the wake of the havoc the coronavirus pandemic has wreaked on global trade.
In recent years, a new dimension has been added to this sphere, with the discovery of underwater natural gas deposits off Israel's shores, which required Israel to declare defined economic waters and reach an agreement with Cyprus. The latter was sighed only after the events of the 2010 Marmara flotilla as until then, Israel had chosen not to upset the Turks, who claim that Cyprus is not a country.
The offshore gas finds and the declaration of economic waters have raised the need to defend this maritime space, which undoubtedly holds more resources than just natural gas.
The challenge facing the Israeli Navy is, first and foremost, the protection of Israel's shores and its sovereignty over its declared economic waters and the gas fields they house.
In this respect, the threats Israel faces are multidimensional.
The most obvious threat lies with enemy naval forces. A closer look reveals that the Syrian Navy has withered to nearly nothing and it does not pose a threat to Israel, nor does the Lebanese Navy. The Iranians, who are far to the east, do not have a navy capable of targeting the Israeli Navy, leaving the Egyptian and the Turkish navies as the only two other significant maritime forces in the Mediterranean.
While both are significant forces, they are not a threat to Israel. Cairo and Jerusalem maintain a solid peace treaty and despite the various crises with Turkey, Ankara is a NATO member and a conflict on the front is highly unlikely.
The biggest threat, it seems, is maritime terrorism.
Hamas in Gaza is constantly consolidating its naval offensive capabilities, using underwater means as well as using unmanned vehicles. At the same time, the rocket threat to gas rigs is growing.
On the northern front, Hezbollah is improving its capabilities to infiltrate the navy's routine security apparatus as part of its efforts to infiltrate Israel's northern shores. Moreover, the Iranian-backed Shiite terrorist group is currently in possession of various missiles – some operationally advanced – and poses a threat to Israeli gas rigs as well as to maritime traffic to and from the Jewish state.
Another challenge the INF is facing is protecting the freedom of travel to Israel in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, in light if the growing attempts to disrupt it.
While no other fleet in the Mediterranean poses an actual threat to navigational freedom, the same cannot be said for the Red Sea. This body of water's shape and the fact that six countries in Asia and Africa – Yemen and Saudi Arabia to the east, Egypt to the north and west, Sudan, Eritrea, and Djibouti to the west, and Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia in the Gulf of Aqaba – dot its shores– means that Israeli ship could face threats from unstable countries that could become hostile in the event of a war.
Then there are the aerial threats to the maritime sphere. Suicide drones, for example, can target vessels, oil rigs, and other strategic offshore assets, and Iran, to name one actor, is making growing use of such UAVs.
The INF recognized the potential aerial threat to offshore assets years ago, as well as the Israeli Air Force's inability to provide them with full protection against these threats.
This situation assessment has prompted the Israeli Navy to procure some of the best air defense systems in the world, which will assist it in defending Israel's economic waters and its critical offshore infrastructure, as well as – in need be – any naval forces dispatch to faraway theaters.
Countering such threats require both offensive and defensive strategies.
First, the daily defense routine must include naval and aerial patrols alongside the deployment of shore-based defense systems as part of the effort to foil any threat.
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At the same time, an intelligence-gathering effort is required to monitor the developments of and preparations by the terrorist elements in the various arenas, and from time to time - action is required against these infrastructures in order to thwart their plans.
This combination of defensive and offensive operations makes it possible to reduce these hostile elements' ability to target Israeli interests.
In a time of war, the navy's concept of warfare will again have to combine defensive and offensive strategies, including the physical protection of the gas rigs, while simultaneously carrying out offensive activities against land- and sea-based targets that could endanger the INF's freedom of operation.
Vice Adm. (ret.) Eliezer Marom served and commander of the Israeli Navy from 2007–2011.
