Strategic Assessment

Israel faces a wide range of threats and challenges, among them terrorist attacks against civilian population centers; high trajectory fire from the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, and Syria; arms smuggling to terrorist organizations; and the growing influence of Iran in the region. Added to these are new social challenges, particularly the arrival of thousands of African refugees seeking refuge and work in Israel. While these may appear to be disparate phenomena, a broader approach links many of the threats and challenges that Israel faces in a single analytical framework centered on the notion of the failed state. This essay explains how a failing or failed state in Israel's near and far circles affects its strategic environment, and demonstrates how the use of this analytical framework suggests some new responses to the challenges Israel faces.