Strategic Assessment
The strategic environment in which Israel operates has recently been jolted, to the point that significant parts of the puzzle on which Israeli policy is based are in danger of collapse. One of the main conclusions to emerge from israel’s net assessment is that given the disappearance or the waning of a number of weighty actors in the Arab world, Saudi Arabia is possibly the last player that is both operating persistently to contain Iran and is also capable of serving as a counterweight to Turkey. The wave of Arab weakness has become Israel’s problem, along with the reduced American effectiveness in the Middle East. Against this background, Saudi Arabia has – surprisingly – become the state closest to Israel in its reading of the regional map and in its strategic vector.