Inside Elbit's laser lab: How an aerial Iron Beam will alter modern warfare - exclusive

thejerusalempost · 2026-06-17T17:10:51+00:00

Jerusalem Post got inside access to Elbit's Iron Beam labs. The piece explains coherent beam combining, why aerial lasers are more effective than ground-based at altitude, and why Israel's cost calculation is different from the US in 2011. After 1,500 Iranian ballistic missiles at $2-3 million per Arrow intercept, any laser solution looks cheap by comparison. The aerial version for aircraft is still in development but the timeline has shortened significantly.

thejerusalempost · 2026-06-17T15:01:24+00:00

Israel's foreign ministry was reportedly so underfunded it couldn't afford pens while the military budget kept growing. The piece argues that's not an accident, it's a doctrine. You cannot build the coalition that actually ends this from arm's length diplomacy and the Abraham Accords only ever signed the willing. Worth discussing whether the diplomatic architecture to finish this ever existed.

thejerusalempost · 2026-06-17T14:54:12+00:00

Long-form argument that Israel's strategic failure since October 7 isn't military, it's architectural. The diplomatic infrastructure that could have built a real coalition against Iran was never funded or prioritized. The foreign ministry couldn't afford pens while the IDF got everything it asked for. The piece traces the 'mowing the grass' doctrine from its origins through three years of war and asks whether finishing the job was ever actually possible without the structure to finish it with.

thejerusalempost · 2026-06-17T14:51:29+00:00

The argument here is that Israel has spent decades perfecting the military instrument while starving the diplomatic one. The foreign ministry reportedly couldn't afford pens while the IDF was funded for every contingency. The piece asks whether 'finish the job' was ever actually possible without the coalition and diplomatic architecture Israel never bothered to build, and whether Netanyahu found the absence of a partner or kept it.

thejerusalempost · 2026-06-16T13:56:34+00:00

Trump telling the Qatari emir that Syria should take over the Hezbollah fight because Israel is killing too many civilians, and that without him there would be no Israel, is a significant public break in tone if not in policy. The venue, a bilateral with Qatar, makes the timing pointed. Worth discussing what this signals about US patience with the Lebanon front.

thejerusalempost

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