Publications on Military and Strategic Affairs

The Israeli government and the Knesset are responsible for the defense budget, but their ability to hold in-depth deliberations on the issue is limited. The debate is conducted against the backdrop of the traditional dispute between the Finance Ministry and the Defense Ministry concerning the size of the defense budget, with each side attempting to bolster its arguments by highlighting particular data. For this reason, a decision was made to establish a new committee to examine the defense budget, headed by Major General (res.)...

The March 5, 2014 seizure of the Klos C is a blow to Iran, which clearly invested considerable effort and resources in organizing the weapons shipment and attempting to conceal the ship’s course and cargo. This was not the first time that Israel succeeded in intercepting such shipments, and it thus proved again that it has significant intelligence capability to penetrate the Iranian system, as well as the operational capacity to take targets by surprise and act hundreds of kilometers from Israel’s borders. Yet while the Klos C...

The purpose of the committee headed by Harel Locker, formed by the Prime Minister to examine the defense budget, is to establish a multi-year framework for the defense budget in order to preempt the regular annual conflict between the Ministry of Finance and the defense establishment over the budget. Accordingly, then, the goal of the committee is twofold: one, to define a long term budget framework, thereby facilitating more efficient planning of defense needs; and two, to resolve “once and for all,” or at least for a few years, the...

This article argues that there is little difference between military thinking and true economic thinking, which is different from accounting-budgetary thinking. Most of the substantive disagreements between military commanders and economists stem from objective difficulties in predicting the future and quantifying the important components of risk, cost, and benefit. Other disagreements result from vested interests or mere egotistical issues. The article will also explore the problematic manner in which the defense budget is drafted,...

The military and political arenas are closely linked in Israel’s fight against terrorist and guerrilla organizations. Israel is a democratic country subject to legal and moral constraints and restraints, and therefore, when it initiates a military operation against such organizations, its justifications are important, as they will later affect its international legitimacy or lack thereof. This article discusses the Iron Dome system, which is designed to provide active protection for Israeli citizens. It attempts to answer...

The processes that led to the Second Lebanon War and the events that took place during the war are analyzed six years after the war. The starting point for the analysis is the withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000, which, according to the analysis, was justified. However, from a broad perspective, it is evident that the overall processes since the withdrawal led to strategic choices that resulted in the IDF’s reduced operational preparedness. The article examines the decision making processes near the start of and during the course of the...