Missile Defense and Israel’s Deterrence against a Nuclear Iran

Israel’s national security doctrine has been molded in a reality of gaping asymmetry, both geographic and demographic, between itself and its hostile neighbors. The security environment of a tiny country with a small population surrounded on three sides by substantially larger states and overwhelmingly larger populations has perforce bred an offensive military doctrine and the preference for offensive rather than defensive weapons. Lacking protective geographical features such as mountain ranges, large rivers, or surrounding seas, Israel, like other small countries in the same situation, could not afford the huge costs of permanent, costly defensive fortifications. Preemptive wars, of which the Six Day War was perhaps the most outstanding example, were always seen in Israel as the preferred military doctrine.