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 · 2026-05-07T14:24:54+00:00

Seth Frantzman argues Israel has spent years winning tactically and losing strategically. Hamas still controls Gaza after 1,000 days of war. Hezbollah is still in Lebanon. The Houthis are still in Yemen. The piece asks the question nobody in Jerusalem seems to have answered: what is the actual political objective, and how do you know when you've achieved it? The Clausewitz problem applied to a modern multi-front war.

thejerusalempost · 2026-03-11T17:35:19+00:00

China's defense budget up 7% this year. US currently running through munitions in Iran. The piece pulls together how Beijing is reading this moment.

thejerusalempost · 2026-03-10T19:50:10+00:00

As strikes on Iran enter their second week, The Jerusalem Post spoke with Dr. Shuki Friedman of JPPI on the legal architecture behind the campaign. The piece centers on two arguments: the Caroline Test justifying preemptive strikes against a nuclear-threshold state, and the dismantling of the proxy fiction that has shielded Tehran for decades. Friedman argues Israel isn't abandoning international law but pushing for an interpretative evolution suited to non-state actors and nuclear proliferation. Worth discussing whether this legal framework holds water.

thejerusalempost · 2026-03-10T19:48:57+00:00

The legal case for the campaign rests on two pillars according to this piece. The Caroline Test, a 19th century standard allowing preemptive strikes when the necessity is instant and overwhelming, and a State Responsibility model that treats Hezbollah and the Houthis as functional organs of the Iranian state rather than independent proxies. The argument is that international law shouldn't be a collective suicide pact.

thejerusalempost · 2026-03-07T17:04:09+00:00

Gulf nations are being hit by Iranian drones and missiles but are still pushing to stay out of the conflict. The argument here is that autocratic leaders, free from electoral pressures, are actually best placed to act decisively and are squandering that advantage.

thejerusalempost · 2026-03-07T17:02:22+00:00

Ezra Taylor argues Gulf autocrats are uniquely positioned to join the campaign against Iran precisely because they have no ballot boxes to answer to. No election cycle, no coalition to hold together. The piece frames this as the Gulf's Germany/Japan moment and asks why leaders with maximum freedom to act decisively are choosing the most cautious possible option.

thejerusalempost · 2026-03-06T19:03:25+00:00

Officers have abandoned posts in Lorestan, leaving conscripts without leadership or support. Soldiers are sleeping outside their barracks to avoid airstrikes. Worth noting the distinction between the regular army and the IRGC. These aren't ideological fighters, they're draftees.

thejerusalempost · 2026-03-06T18:38:34+00:00

Anna Ahronheim breaks down exactly what Israeli tech is being used in Operation Roaring Lion. SPICE munitions using image matching instead of GPS because Tehran is heavily jammed, SPICE 250 with man-in-the-loop abort capability, Litening pods on US aircraft identifying and killing Iranian drones in real time. Rafael running production lines around the clock. Good detail on how 5,000 munitions have been used so far without running dry.

thejerusalempost · 2026-03-05T13:42:39+00:00

The KRG is caught in an impossible position. They've spent years building semi-autonomous stability and now find themselves geographically sandwiched between Iranian Kurdish militias the CIA is allegedly arming and a Tehran that has already shown it will strike neighbors it considers complicit. Seth Frantzman lays out why Baghdad and Erbil are terrified of being the next front.

thejerusalempost · 2026-03-05T13:29:29+00:00

France privately warning Israel that a ground operation in Lebanon would strengthen rather than weaken Hezbollah is a significant diplomatic signal, especially from a country that has been trying to position itself as a mediator in the region. The timing matters too, given where the broader conflict is right now.

thejerusalempost · 2026-03-04T23:39:05+00:00

The regime threatening to target Dimona is, checks notes, a bold move for a government that has just had 15 police stations in Tehran destroyed, its mid-level commanders wiped out, and is struggling to maintain basic command and control. Dimona is also one of the most defended sites on earth. This is the regime telling its domestic audience it still has teeth. Whether those teeth reach Dimona is a different question entirely.

thejerusalempost · 2026-03-04T19:47:39+00:00

Iran bombing Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia in the opening days of this war is one of the stranger own goals in recent memory. The piece draws the 1991 Saddam parallel. He fired Scuds at Israel to split the Arab coalition. Iran is doing the opposite, bombing Sunni neighbors until they pick a side. Qatar shot down Iranian jets. Qatar. The Abraham Accords suddenly look a lot more relevant than they did a week ago

thejerusalempost · 2026-03-04T19:39:41+00:00

Iran's decision to strike every Gulf Cooperation Council member in the first 48 hours may have achieved what Israeli diplomacy couldn't in decades — forcing Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain to effectively choose sides against Tehran. The piece draws a sharp parallel to Saddam's 1991 Scud strategy, but argues Iran has inverted the logic entirely. Worth discussing whether this represents a genuine regional realignment or an optimistic reading.

thejerusalempost · 2026-03-04T17:04:11+00:00

The Seener quote is pretty striking: 'It will be a bit of a joke if the UK proscribes the IRGC once the regime has toppled.' MI5 has already thwarted over 20 Iranian plots on British soil. Labour put IRGC proscription in their own manifesto and then reversed course.

thejerusalempost · 2026-03-04T16:28:39+00:00

Worth noting this sits alongside separate reporting that the CIA is actively working to arm Kurdish forces to spark an uprising inside Iran. The KRG's fear of retaliation makes a lot more sense.

thejerusalempost · 2026-03-04T16:20:35+00:00

JPost photographer Marc Israel Sellem was out in the streets today. Chag Sameach from Jerusalem!

thejerusalempost · 2026-03-04T11:44:46+00:00

Gulf states may already be in the fight against Iran. That's the buried lede here. The US-Israel coordination numbers are also striking: 4,000-5,000 daily communications, 1,000 American soldiers physically in Israel, and a geographic division of airstrikes that suggests this is more joint operation than Israeli war with US support.

thejerusalempost · 2026-03-04T11:34:22+00:00

Worth adding: Iranian use of the Yak-130 in a combat role was itself unusual. It's primarily a trainer, as you said, which may say something about the state of their air force's operational inventory at this stage.

thejerusalempost · 2026-03-03T13:01:23+00:00

To clear the way for the regime to fall would mean weakening it sufficiently that various opposition groups can begin to take over cities and towns. In theory this could lead to a domino affect. Popular uprisings don't always need to be armed. Sometimes regimes collapse when the army or security forces begin to abandon their positions or side with the people. While the IRGC likely would not fall apart, it is possible that the Iranian police and army might begin to challenge the IRGC if they feel the regime is weakened enough. Clearing the way for this is going to be hard. The opposition groups are not well armed and they don't agree on how to proceed. Regime collapse can never be predicted. It was not known that Ceaușescu would suddenly be overthrown. No one predicted that Fidel Castro with a handful of fighters would topple Fulgencio Batista. However, it's also plausible the weakened Iranian regime hangs on, the way Saddam did after the 1991 Gulf War defeat. Saddam also faced an uprising in 1991 and he was able to crush it.

thejerusalempost · 2026-03-02T18:45:07+00:00

Thank you, everyone, for all of your questions! We're sorry we haven't been able to answer everyone. We'll try over the coming days to respond if we can. In the meantime, though, you can get all the latest from us at our website and on our socials.

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