Publications on Military and Strategic Affairs

The current public debate in Israel about the size of increases to the defense budget before its approval by the Knesset is focused on astronomical figures: some 30 billion shekels over the next three years. Acceptance of such demands from the defense establishment and other budgetary bodies could seriously undermine the fiscal discipline that has contributed to financial stability and economic growth and might set in motion retrograde patterns of economic behavior.

In an effort to prevent governmental decisions on national security that are made without a due comprehensive analytical process, Whom Does the Council Advise calls for a newly-defined status for the National Security Council. Previous heads of the NSC interviewed for this study emphasize four major lapses in the current system: the absence of staff work on behalf of the government and the prime minister; inadequate preparations in the prime minister’s office for decision making; the absence of a central coordinating entity;...

The Hizbullah operation that resulted in the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers and the death of eight others has ignited a major confrontation between that organization and Israel. Unlike previous clashes in recent years, in which it could be expected that the clash would be short-lived because of the interest of both sides preventing escalation and returning to acceptable rules of the game, the provocation and its consequences are too great this time to allow Israel to return to the status quo ante. That would signal to Hizbullah...

Part I: Middle East Strategic Assessment   Introduction   The International Theater Chapter 1 Political Trends in the Middle East: The Triumph of Identity over Democracy / Mark A. Heller   Chapter 2 US Policy in the Greater Middle East: A Rendezvous with Reality? / Eran Lerman Centrality and Controversy The Iraqi Crucible Elsewhere in the War on Terror The Palestinian and Israeli Arenas Supporting Siniora: Hizbollah, Syria, and the Aftermath of the War The Ultimate Challenge: Iran...

Operation “Summer Rains” was launched by Israel on June 28 in response to an attack by Hamas near Kerem Shalom. In that incident, a Hamas squad tunneled under the fence separating Israel from Gaza and attacked an armored unit from the rear, killing two soldiers and capturing another — Gilad Shalit — whom they took back to Gaza.

This collection of nine essays presents different perspectives on civil-military relations during a military crisis, in wartime, and in a low intensity conflict. Each essay uses a particular angle to approach the sensitive, complex relationship between the military and political echelons, and the ramifications of this relationship on Israel’s defense and foreign policy.

Did the terror offensive of the second Palestinian intifada impact on Israeli national resilience, and if so, to what extent? Did this terror offensive result in changed political views of the Israeli public concerning issues related to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict? Israel’s National Resilience suggests that the years of terror did not unseat the Israeli public’s prior attitudes and accepted patterns of behavior, nor did it puncture the majority consensus regarding the manner of confronting the Palestinians or the...

This study proposes an optimal future structure of the defense industry in Israel. The authors contend that Israel would stand to gain from a merger of its defense industry companies into one large, private corporation. A merger into one or two corporations is essential in order to guarantee the independence of Israel’s defense industry, whose future competition will be primarily in the global market. This measure should accompany development of weapon systems that capitalize on Israel’s technological advantage, and the...

The Middle East Strategic Balance 2004-2005 Table of Contents   Introduction   Part I: Middle East Strategic Assessment   Chapter 1 The Middle East: Still on the Brink of a New Era / Mark A. Heller External Penetration and Pressure for Change Regional Ramifications Future Directions   Chapter 2 The Ongoing Iraqi Crisis / Ephraim Kam The Role of the...

For the first three months of 2005, Israel operated on the basis of last year’s budget. The Knesset only passed a new budget at the end of March, after much political wrangling based largely on the legislators’ positions with respect to the disengagement or various internal party calculations.

This study considers the supervision of the IDF by the Knesset, the government, the state comptroller’s office, and the judicial system. It reviews the mode of supervision performed by each of these entities and the inherent pitfalls, and proposes measures to improve civilian control of the IDF.