The Islamic State burst onto the Middle East scene as an entity whose conduct and very essence challenge the existing regional order. With its military conquests in Iraq and Syria, its establishment of branches elsewhere in the Middle East and beyond, its state-like governance in the areas under its control, and the cruelty it typically exhibits, the Islamic State has become the focus of regional and international interest and concern. The articles compiled in this volume examine ways of dealing with one of the most salient military,...
Recent years have witnessed a notable improvement in Israel’s strategic, military, political – and soon, perhaps, economic as well – balance. Partly the result of careful planning, this trend is also due to regional developments that have led Israel’s neighbors to believe that Israel has the ability to promote their interests. Geographically, the new strategic arc spans Egypt in the south to Greece in the northwest. The deterioration in Israeli-Turkish relations since 2009, in particular after the flotilla affair in May 2010, has...
The Paris attacks do not represent a radical or surprising departure from the Islamic State’s strategy against Western nations, and thus what is at work is a natural, calculated development that was planned and organized by the Islamic State. The notion that unlike al-Qaeda, which focused on showcase terrorism in the West as its main action strategy, the Islamic State would avoid international terrorism and concentrate on encouraging sporadic acts of terrorism by lone perpetrators while its main focus was on entrenchment in the Arab...
On November 11, 2015, the European Commission approved a document calling on European Union countries to enforce the labeling of products originating from Jewish settlements beyond the Green Line. According to this legislation, stores will have to label food products and cosmetics – but not industrial products – as originating in the settlements. While estimates indicate that Israeli exports to Europe will not be significantly affected and the macroeconomic consequences of the European measure are negligible, the move signals...
In executing and taking responsibility for the November 13, 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, the Islamic State has three objectives: revenge against France for its military involvement in the international coalition to eliminate the Islamic State; an undermined sense of security in France and evidence to the Western world that the struggle with the Islamic State is not restricted to Iraq and Syria; and aid to the Islamic State in its efforts to attract new recruits. Some in Israel may hope that the events in Paris will add to...
The European Union finds itself in the throes of a far-reaching humanitarian crisis, as waves of refugees and asylum seekers flock to its gates in numbers not seen since the end of World War II. The hundreds of thousands who have already arrived and the hundreds of thousands who are expected to reach the shores of Europe before the end of the year have taken EU member states by (incomprehensible) surprise and consequently, have found these states unprepared to deal with the influx. At the same time, the EU is in the throes of a deep...
While Netanyahu probably had little if any chance of stopping the deal that materialized over the past year, he still has a role to play in trying to mitigate some of its worst implications – and this he should do. For this to happen, there is no substitute for focused discussions with the US administration, now and in the future. In this regard, Netanyahu is not doing himself or Israel any favors by continuing to intervene in the Congressional process that is currently underway. His perceived interference only exacerbates relations...
Following the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) between the world powers and Iran, Russia was quick to call on the United States to stop the NATO missile defense deployments in Europe, on the grounds that Iran will no longer pose a nuclear threat to Alliance countries. However, while the agreement could delay Iran’s ability to break out to a nuclear weapon by up to one year, the JCPOA dos not call for the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. NATO can therefore claim that there is no reason to scale...
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear agreement signed in Vienna between Iran and the P5+1 (the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany) on July 14, 2015 has been heralded as an historic event by both its advocates and detractors. This collection brings together thoughts from the researchers at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) on different aspects of the agreement and its strategic consequences for Israel, regional security in the Middle East, and global order....
Against the background of the EU’s internal and external crises, and with only limited internal European consensus regarding issues of foreign policy, at least on the strategic level, prominent in this context is the consensus regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This latter consensus, which is broader than what elements within the Israeli political system would like to believe, is based on the all-encompassing European support of international law as a guiding principle in international relations. This principle constitutes...
