As fighting in Gaza resumed, Israel’s Cabinet on Sunday approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to rename the ongoing conflict The War of Revival, replacing the previous title Operation Iron Swords. The new name, which Netanyahu first suggested more than a year ago, is meant to reflect what he called Israel’s national renewal following the Hamas-led massacre of Oct. 7, 2023.
Minister Amichai Chikli abstained in the vote, Minister Orit Strock opposed it, and all other ministers supported the change. Netanyahu said the previous name, Operation Iron Swords, was only temporary.
“At the end of two consecutive years of fighting, we remember how it all began,” Netanyahu said at the start of the Cabinet meeting. “We rose from the terrible disaster of October 7. We stood on our feet with renewed strength and fought back fiercely against our enemies. This is the War of Revival of our people, a direct continuation of the War of Independence. We are also preparing to award decorations of valor and commendations to our heroic soldiers and commanders. As in previous campaigns, the decorations of this war will bear the official name of the War of Revival.”
The change was approved with little debate. Minister Avi Dichter said that early in the conflict he believed it should be called the Gaza War, but as fighting expanded beyond Gaza, the name became less fitting. Minister Shlomo Karhi cited symbolic meaning and numerology, saying that wars are often named for their outcomes, such as the Six-Day War or the War of Independence.
“Here too, we began with a terrible disaster and have moved toward the revival of the people of Israel in their land,” Karhi said. “Our deterrence has been restored, and we now walk proudly in our homeland. Tkumah (revival) has the same numerical value as Bibi Netanyahu — 545.”
During the meeting, Minister Amichai Eliyahu asked, “What will happen if, God forbid, we have to return to fighting?”
Minister Strock replied, “God forbid? Why ‘God forbid’?”
Minister Chikli added, “Unbelievable how far left Jewish Strength has gone.”
Eliyahu responded, “She’s right. Not ‘God forbid.’ You all know my views well.”
Eliyahu also asked whether the time had come to establish a commission of inquiry. Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs replied that “it’s on the prime minister’s desk.” Eliyahu said any commission should investigate all levels of leadership, including “the judicial system and the bureaucracy that concealed information.”
Dichter said the new name carries symbolic weight. “They’ll criticize us for any name we choose,” he said. “The name ‘War of Revival’ represents the most complex war since the founding of the state. It gives Israel an optimistic direction.”
Netanyahu first proposed renaming the war during a special Cabinet session held on Oct. 7, 2024, marking one year since the massacre and what he called the “national failure” that preceded it. The name Operation Iron Swords was assigned at the start of the war by the Israel Defense Forces, but Netanyahu began considering a new name as early as December 2023.
At that time, the government sought to replace the military operation name with one that would emphasize the historic and national scope of the conflict. A few months after the massacre, IDF officials proposed calling it The War of October 7 and asked the political leadership to adopt the name. Other options considered included The Simchat Torah War, in reference to the Jewish holiday on which the Hamas attack occurred, and The War of Genesis. Netanyahu later settled on The War of Revival.
The war began after Hamas terrorists stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and abducting 251 others to Gaza. The Israeli military launched Operation Iron Swords in response, vowing to dismantle Hamas and secure the release of the hostages.
The Cabinet decision Sunday formally changes the war’s name in official state documents, military commendations and future historical references.