Israel's Submarine Cables: Connectivity Amid Conflict

Eight Cables, Seven Cities

Israel is connected to the global network through 8 submarine cables with landing points in seven cities along the Mediterranean coast: Ashkelon, Haifa, Herzliya, Nahariya, Netanya, Rishon LeZion, Tel Aviv, and Tirat Carmel. The isolation index is 40 out of 100, indicating moderate but not critical vulnerability. For comparison, countries with only one or two cables score 70-80 points. Nevertheless, eight routes are not redundant. All bandwidth is concentrated in a single maritime basin: the Eastern Mediterranean. Israel lacks an alternative outlet directly through the Red Sea or the Indian Ocean. This is a geographic reality that cannot be overcome, no matter how many cables are in one region.

The State and Traffic

GeoCables has monitoring points within Israel: nodes in Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv area, both operational. These provide an overview of AS-level routing and BGP paths from within the country. Based on open data and these observations, Israel operates as a democracy with relatively free internet: we do not detect systematic DNS censorship or mass traffic filtering. However, the state has broad powers to intercept communications under national security legislation, and selective blocking is applied situationally during military operations. The internal monitoring points allow real-time observation of changes in routes and connectivity, rather than relying solely on external indicators.

War and Its Impact on Connectivity

Over the past 60 days, the signaling environment around Israel has remained exceptionally tense. GeoCables monitors five conflict zones: IsraelSouth, Haifa, IsraelNorth, Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem. Recent headlines include war with Iran, strikes on Beirut, and a fragile truce with Hezbollah, with ongoing reports of Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon highlighting its instability. The current maximum alert level across all zones is 0.000, with no active incidents affecting cable infrastructure recorded. However, this discrepancy between political escalation and network stability is telling: submarine cables lie on the seabed, far from conflict lines, unless the conflict reaches coastal infrastructure or servicing ports.

The landing point in Haifa is a unique case for observation. Haifa is the country's largest port city and simultaneously a GeoCables monitoring zone. During previous escalations with Hezbollah, northern Israel was subjected to rocket attacks. The cable station in Nahariya, located even further north and closer to the Lebanese border, is the most vulnerable terrestrial point in the entire national network.

Key Nodes: Cyprus and Egypt

Israeli cables are primarily directed west and northwest. Cyprus serves as a critical transit hub: routes such as the MedNautilus Submarine System (7,000 km, RFS 2001) and Jonah (2,297 km, RFS 2012) pass through or previously passed through it. Egypt and the Suez Corridor form the second structural node for traffic heading to Asia: any issues on the Egyptian segment lead to global rerouting, and Israel is no different from other Mediterranean countries in this regard.

Of the eight cables, two - EMC West-1 (3,639 km) and EMC West-2 (3,978 km) - are not yet operational, with commissioning planned for 2027. Their activation will significantly increase bandwidth and add redundant routes, but until then, the country relies on infrastructure, the oldest element of which - IC-1 (340 km, RFS 2000) - has been in operation for a quarter of a century. The cable Blue (5,055 km, RFS 2023) is the newest active link, providing connectivity to Europe. The status of ANDROMEDA remains undisclosed in public sources: neither its length nor its commissioning year is specified.

What GeoCables Monitors

GeoCables monitors all eight cables with a focus on landing points in conflict risk zones. Special attention is given to:

• Nahariya and Haifa, as they are closest to the conflict zone between Lebanon and Israel;
• the EMC West-1 and EMC West-2 cables, under monitoring until their commissioning in 2027;
• routes through Cyprus as a transit hub, critically important for the entire Eastern Mediterranean flank's connectivity;
• the dynamics of the conflict zones IsraelNorth and Haifa, in case terrestrial escalation begins to impact coastal infrastructure.

While the alert level remains at zero, the infrastructure is functioning normally. However, during prolonged conflicts - when the front stagnates rather than disappears - risks to cable stations accumulate subtly. GeoCables continues monitoring on an ongoing basis.