Publications

This essay seeks to view Operation Cast Lead as a piece in a developing sequence, beginning with the second intifada and continuing through the Second Lebanon War, in terms of two major components: the military response to the threat and the public understanding of the effectiveness of the military response. There is a close symbiotic relationship between the two components because Israel’s response to the threat involves military combat elements alongside civilian stamina and defense capabilities. The two components are intertwined, as the supreme goal of the enemy is to harm the nation’s civilians. Harming the Israeli military is the enemy’s secondary goal; if achieved, it enables the enemy to proceed towards its primary objective.