Strategic Assessment

In the summer of 2006, the IDF was impelled to respond to two significant challenges with major military operations. The kidnapping of Gilad Shalit led to a wide scale operation in the Gaza Strip. The kidnapping of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev two and a half weeks later on the northern border led to the IDF embarking on what is now known as the Second Lebanon War. Nearly one year after the two events it is worthwhile examining the processes underway in the IDF and the public and civilian systems that bear on all aspects of IDF performance.