Anyone walking through Eilat today senses little of the tension that has shaped the Middle East for years. Tourists fill the hotels, families stroll along the promenade, and the Red Sea glistens as it always has. Israel’s southernmost city often feels like another world — far removed from Gaza, Lebanon, or the region’s flashpoints.
Yet it is precisely this apparent calm that is now occupying Israel’s security establishment.
In recent days, reports about warnings from the new Shin Bet chief, David Zini, have drawn attention. According to Israeli media, Zini warned internally about the possibility that Eilat could one day become the target of a surprise attack resembling, in its nature, the Hamas assault of October 7, 2023.
This does not involve a specific intelligence warning or indications of an imminent attack. Rather, the question is whether Israel’s southernmost city may be more vulnerable because of its geographic location than had long been assumed.
Eilat lies far from the country’s major population centers, borders Jordan directly, and is also close to the Egyptian border. Added to this...
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