In the IDF it is customary to distinguish between two concepts: the use of force and force buildup. The first refers to operational activity and assumes that the necessary military capability is a given. The second includes the activity required in order to improve (or at times merely to preserve) the arny’s capability. Force buildup takes place year round, but important decisions affecting it are usually made once a year as the annual work plan is approved, and to a greater extent once every five years (or four) when the...
Middle East states continue to figure among the world’s leading arms customers. However, executions of arms deals are slow processes, and changes in the military capacities of states rarely occur overnight. As such, trends in arms acquisitions presented in previous recent INSS annual publications are still valid. These include: acquisition of the most advanced and sophisticated weapon systems, primarily by oil-rich countries; efforts to develop indigenous military industries; and reduction of expenses by upgrading older weapon...
This article presents several facts and conclusions stemming from the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000. It also discusses two other events that occurred after the withdrawal: the Second Lebanon War in 2006, and a relatively small yet important event, the departure of Syrian forces from Lebanon in 2005. All these events are connected to one another.
The IDF reserves, formerly the backbone of the military’s force, is now at a crossroads, and it appears that even the IDF command and the political echelon are not sure how to reshape it. This essay argues that a combination of political and economic costs involved in operating the reserves is accelerating the decline of this force, and is part of the general move towards the transformation of the IDF from conscript to professional army.
This essay focuses on an analysis of the factors that are likely to make terrorist organizations use cyber tools to perpetrate attacks on critical infrastructures of sovereign institutions and symbols, commercial and industrial infrastructures and systems, and public civilian targets. In addition, it examines the question of whether the threat is actual and imminent, or whether it is a far-fetched possibility that surfaces from time to time in the general discourse on the subject.
This article relies illuminates the characteristics of the information age and clarifies the issues that emerge when technological development interfaces with national security. It analyzes the current characteristics of cyberspace, and discusses the implications for national security questions. It then reviews the field known as information warfare and focuses on the totally new phenomenon of computer warfare in cyberspace. The article then reviews cyber weapons and methods of warfare, discusses defense, attack, and deterrence, and...
This article aims to provide a balanced picture of the phenomenon of cyberwar. It will show how and why the meaning of “cyberwar” has evolved from the narrow conception referring exclusively to military interaction to its broad meaning, which has become detached from “war” and encompasses almost every activity linked to the aggressive use of computers. In particular, it will distinguish between different forms of cyber conflict in order to lay the ground for a levelheaded threat assessment. It further shows...
Strategic ambiguity has an honored place in the mores of statecraft. The studied unwillingness of states to say what they have done (or would do) coupled with the lack of proof that they have done it (or would do it) liberates other states. They can argue that something was done, but if their purposes so dictate, they can pretend that it was not done. The degree of doubt can vary: from thorough (no one is sure what has happened or would happen) to nominal (no one is fooled). In either case, however, those who did it have provided a...
IDF General Staff planning processes relate to two primary areas: force buildup and force deployment. The fundamentals of military doctrine of any army, and particularly the IDF, necessitate full synchronization between the two, and the element that underlies all planning processes is what is needed for force deployment. Upon the establishment of the IDF, these processes were assigned to a single framework: the General Staff Branch. However, more than sixty years later, planning in the General Staff today has been decentralized among...
This essay analyzes the main changes that have occurred in the strategic arena, especially the rising influence of the delegitimization campaign on the deployment of military force. The essay claims that in light of these changes the IDF must formulate a comprehensive strategy to coordinate force buildup and force deployment, and thereby allow an effective confrontation with the complex challenges facing the nation.
Recent events have placed the Iron Dome system back on the public agenda. In a barrage that continued for several days following the terror attack in Eilat, over one hundred Grad and Qassam rockets – aimed at Beer Sheva, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Sderot, Kiryat Gat, Gedera, Kiryat Malachi, and adjacent towns – landed in Israel.
In the last decade, Israel unilaterally withdrew from two areas: the security zone in southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. Israel had previously withdrawn unilaterally from occupied territories without political agreements, but these two withdrawals were more significant and traumatic, both socially and politically, than any prior withdrawal. The time that has passed since these unilateral withdrawals affords us some historical perspective and allows us to compare them in terms of their outcomes and the processes they generated, both...
