Israel Facing a New Middle East: In Search of a National Security Strategy
The turmoil which has been rattling the Middle East in recent years has confronted Israel with fresh challenges and opportunities and requires it to rethink the three levels of its strategy and security policies: National security Strategy (sometimes referred to as Grand Strategy), National Security Policy and National Military Strategy. The book points to the years 1979–1981 as the years of transition from conventional military challenges faced by Israel to the novel challenges of terrorism, missiles and rockets, sub-state guerrilla organizations on its borders and the prospect of nuclear weapons in hostile hands. Some of these challenges have been exacerbated by the unraveling of neighboring Arab states. The book's review of the evolution of Israeli policies through almost seven decades of war and conflicts shows the absence of a full-fledged grand strategy, the structural weakness of national security policy formulation by successive governments at the cabinet level and the dominant role of the IDF. This state of affairs helps explain why and how Israel has responded to the recent turmoil in a piecemeal fashion rather than formulate a comprehensive policy that would enhance its ability to respond to the new challenges and take advantage of the new opportunities.
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Israel Facing a New Middle East: In Search of a National Security Strategy
The turmoil which has been rattling the Middle East in recent years has confronted Israel with fresh challenges and opportunities and requires it to rethink the three levels of its strategy and security policies: National security Strategy (sometimes referred to as Grand Strategy), National Security Policy and National Military Strategy. The book points to the years 1979–1981 as the years of transition from conventional military challenges faced by Israel to the novel challenges of terrorism, missiles and rockets, sub-state guerrilla organizations on its borders and the prospect of nuclear weapons in hostile hands. Some of these challenges have been exacerbated by the unraveling of neighboring Arab states. The book's review of the evolution of Israeli policies through almost seven decades of war and conflicts shows the absence of a full-fledged grand strategy, the structural weakness of national security policy formulation by successive governments at the cabinet level and the dominant role of the IDF. This state of affairs helps explain why and how Israel has responded to the recent turmoil in a piecemeal fashion rather than formulate a comprehensive policy that would enhance its ability to respond to the new challenges and take advantage of the new opportunities.
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Israel Facing a New Middle East: In Search of a National Security Strategy

Israel Facing a New Middle East: In Search of a National Security Strategy

Israel Facing a New Middle East: In Search of a National Security Strategy

Israel Facing a New Middle East: In Search of a National Security Strategy

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Overview

The turmoil which has been rattling the Middle East in recent years has confronted Israel with fresh challenges and opportunities and requires it to rethink the three levels of its strategy and security policies: National security Strategy (sometimes referred to as Grand Strategy), National Security Policy and National Military Strategy. The book points to the years 1979–1981 as the years of transition from conventional military challenges faced by Israel to the novel challenges of terrorism, missiles and rockets, sub-state guerrilla organizations on its borders and the prospect of nuclear weapons in hostile hands. Some of these challenges have been exacerbated by the unraveling of neighboring Arab states. The book's review of the evolution of Israeli policies through almost seven decades of war and conflicts shows the absence of a full-fledged grand strategy, the structural weakness of national security policy formulation by successive governments at the cabinet level and the dominant role of the IDF. This state of affairs helps explain why and how Israel has responded to the recent turmoil in a piecemeal fashion rather than formulate a comprehensive policy that would enhance its ability to respond to the new challenges and take advantage of the new opportunities.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780817920449
Publisher: Hoover Institution Press
Publication date: 04/01/2017
Pages: 136
Product dimensions: 5.70(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Brigadier General (Res.) Itai Brun, an Israeli senior intelligence officer, served as the head of Israel Defense Intelligence (IDI) Analysis Division from 2011 to 2015. Itamar Rabinovich is president of the Israel Institute. He served as Israel’s ambassador to Washington and chief negotiator with Syria and was president of Tel Aviv University. He is a professor emeritus of Middle Eastern history at Tel Aviv University, distinguished global professor at New York University, and a distinguished senior fellow at the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

1 The Evolution of Israel's National Security Doctrine 1

David Ben Gurion's Security Review 5

The Sinai Campaign 10

The Six-Day War 13

The War of Attrition 15

The October War of 1973 16

The Israeli-Egyptian Peace 18

The 1980s Ground Maneuver Crisis 19

The 1982 War in Lebanon 20

The Debate on the Original Operational Concept 22

Lebanon's Long-Term Impact 23

2 New Challenges for Israel's National Security 25

The Evolution of the Operational Concept of the "Other Side" 25

The 1980s 25

The 1990s 28

The Rise of the Organizations 30

A New Operational Concept 32

The First Palestinian Intifada 36

Military Operations of the 1990s 37

The First Gulf War 37

Public Discussion on Firepower 40

Accountability and Grapes of Wrath 41

The IDF and Israeli Society 41

The "Lebanese Mud" 43

Technological Developments 44

Air Force Activity in Lebanon 46

A Decade of Diplomacy and New Patterns of Confrontation 46

The US Perspective 49

3 Facing Reality: Lebanon and Gaza 51

The Withdrawal from Lebanon 51

Coping with the Second Intifada (Operation Ebb and Flow) 54

A New Operational Concept 58

Massive Changes in the Twenty-First Century 62

The Second Lebanon War 66

Was it a War? 69

What Did Israel Try to Accomplish? 70

What Tasks Were Assigned to the IDF? 74

How Was Military Force Employed? 76

First Phase 76

Second Phase 77

Third Phase 78

A Ten-Year Retrospective 80

The Gaza Challenge 81

Three Military Campaigns (2008-2014) 84

Operation Cast Lead 85

The Mavi Marmara Affair 88

Operation Pillar of Fire 89

Operation Protective Edge 90

4 The Arab Spring and the Arab Turmoil: A New Middle Eastern Reality 95

Israel's Immediate Response 106

The IDF's Response to the New Regional Order 109

Three Levels of Israeli Strategy and Security Policy 118

Source Notes 125

Bibliography 127

About the Authors 129

About the Hoover Institution's Herbert and Jane Dwight Working Group on Islamism and the international Order 131

Index 135

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