Confronting BDS: The Limits of Marketing

Mark A. Heller

Memorandum No. 169, Tel Aviv: Institute for National Security Studies, September 2017

Aware that there is little chance of mobilizing decisive international support for the explicit denial of Israel’s rightful existence, BDS activists have instead focused on aspects of Israeli behavior that resonate more strongly in international political discourse: policies in or about the West Bank and Gaza, especially the use of land and other resources for Jewish civilian settlements that seem logically to contradict Israel’s rhetorical commitment to a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on the principle of “two...

Syria and Iraq after the Islamic State

Mark A. Heller

Strategic Survey for Israel 2016-2017, eds. Anat Kurz and Shlomo Brom, Tel Aviv: Institute for National Security Studies, 2016

The article addresses the question of the future of Syria and Iraq after the Islamic State is defeated. This question, which has become more trenchant following the stepped up military effort to conquer the Islamic State’s strongholds in the second half of 2016, is given a mixed answer: the concrete materialization of the Salafi jihadist idea, i.e., the organization’s territorial base, may be defeated, but its historical and religious sources will continue to inspire efforts to realize it anew, and will therefore continue to...

Regional Transformation in the Middle East

Mark A. Heller

in Strategic Survey for Israel 2015-2016, eds. Shlomo Brom and Anat Kurz, Tel Aviv: Institute for National Security Studies, 2016

Regional Transformation in the Middle East 2015

Mark A. Heller

Institute for National Security Studies, 2016

The three most noteworthy regional developments in 2015 were the formulation of the nuclear deal (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action – JCPOA) between Iran and the P5+1, the Saudi military intervention in the Yemeni civil war, and the Russian military intervention in the Syrian civil war. Whatever its implications for Iran’s nuclear program and nuclear proliferation in the Middle East, the nuclear deal also heightened concerns about Iran’s capacity to pursue a hegemonial agenda in the region.

Between Operation Decisive Storm and an Iranian Nuclear Deal: The Limits of Saudi-Israeli Convergence

Mark A. Heller

INSS Insight No. 696, May 10, 2015

It may well be the case that convergent threat assessments do facilitate some covert contact between the security echelons of Israel and some of the Arab states concerned about the shadow of Iranian hegemony, and the potential may exist for expanded ties. But the added value of more intense and/or overt ties is not self-evident, and it could reasonably be argued that the potential benefits to Israel of a real regional approach are too modest to justify the soul-searching and domestic political tensions that would inevitably ensue....

Islam and Terrorism: A Futile Debate

Mark A. Heller

INSS Insight No. 659, January 28, 2015

Like the leaders of other Western countries targeted by Islamist terrorists, French President François Hollande has insisted that the recent attacks in Paris are not a product of Islam. At the same time, terrorists operating against Western targets themselves believe and insist that their acts of brutal violence against non-Muslim targets are indeed inspired, even required by Islam. Given that the debate about the “truth” of the Muslim-terrorism nexus is ultimately inconclusive, Western political leaders would be better advised, at...

The Turmoil in the Middle East

Udi Dekel, Mark A. Heller, Yoram Schweitzer

in Strategic Survey for Israel 2014-2015, eds. Anat Kurz and Shlomo Brom, Tel Aviv: Institute for National Security Studies, 2015

Since the start of the previous decade, and especially in the past four years, the Middle East has experienced upheavals that will change the face of the region for many years to come. This turmoil has several sources: the United States occupation of Iraq in 2003, which altered the country’s political structure and military capabilities for the foreseeable future; the sociopolitical turbulence, originally called the “Arab Spring,” experienced by many regimes in the Arab world; the growing strength of radical Islamic groups in the...

Israeli Deterrence in the Aftermath of Protective Edge

Mark A. Heller

in The Lessons of Operation Protective Edge, eds. Anat Kurz and Shlomo Brom, Tel Aviv: Institute for National Security Studies, 2014

The Fatah-Hamas Reconciliation and the Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations

Mark A. Heller

INSS Insight No. 542, April 27, 2014

On Wednesday, April 23, 2014, representatives of Fatah and Hamas meeting in Gaza reached agreement on a long-sought reconciliation. That same evening, the Israeli government canceled a scheduled meeting of Palestinian and Israeli negotiators, and the following day, the government voted unanimously to suspend negotiations. The government argued that in his embrace of Hamas, Muhammad Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority and Chairman of the PLO and Fatah, had rejected peace. However, it is therefore not altogether clear why...

Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions: Preempting the Threat

Mark A. Heller

INSS Insight No. 516, February 11, 2014

An impromptu comment by Secretary of State Kerry at the Munich Security Conference on February 1, 2014 regarding “an increasing de-legitimization campaign” against Israel and “talk of boycotts and other kinds of things” ignited a firestorm of criticism in Israel. Prime Minister Netanyahu’s response – “No pressure will cause me to concede the vital interests of the State of Israel, especially the security of Israel’s citizens” – was slightly more measured, but still begs two questions. One concerns the immediacy of the threat and the...