Publications

Read the INSS Strategic Analysis for 2023

The strategic assessment for Israel for 2021 is shaped by significant uncertainty in three principal areas: the level of success in coping with COVID-19; the modus operandi and policies of the new administration in the United States; and the political developments in Israel. The current assessment is based on a broader conception of national security, which places greater weight than in the past on the domestic arena and on threats to internal stability, social cohesion, values, and fabric of life. This of course does not detract...

The strategic assessment for Israel for 2021 is shaped by significant uncertainty in three principal areas: the level of success in coping with COVID-19; the modus operandi and policies of the new administration in the United States; and the political developments in Israel. The current assessment is based on a broader conception of national security, which places greater weight than in the past on the domestic arena and on threats to internal stability, social cohesion, values, and fabric of life. This of course does not detract...

The strategic assessment for Israel for 2021 is shaped by significant uncertainty in three principal areas: the level of success in coping with COVID-19; the modus operandi and policies of the new administration in the United States; and the political developments in Israel. The current assessment is based on a broader conception of national security, which places greater weight than in the past on the domestic arena and on threats to internal stability, social cohesion, values, and fabric of life. This of course does not detract...

The State of Israel’s strategic balance in 2020 is the basis for the policy recommendations for the coming year. In implementing these recommendations, it is important to emphasize the State of Israel’s overarching objectives: to strengthen Israel as a Jewish, democratic, secure, prosperous, and just state that is at peace with its neighbors. These objectives define Israel’s purpose, both in the eyes of the Israeli public and in the eyes of the international community. The State of Israel’s strategic efforts and...

On August 28, 2020 the Security Council adopted Resolution 2539 (2020), thereby renewing the mandate of UNIFIL, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, for another year. The resolution calls on the Lebanese government to facilitate UNIFIL freedom of access to the tunnel sites and all along the Blue Line; requires UNIFIL to report incidents promptly; and requires the UN Secretary General to present a plan for improvements to the force. The Israeli Foreign Ministry announcement implies the limitations of the achievement: “Now the...

The Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Finance are preparing the next defense budget, which is especially challenging in light of the current economic crisis. In this budget, similar to past budgets, there will likely be a notable absence of the direct costs of wars or large military campaigns liable to occur. In practice the Defense and Finance Ministries calculate such costs in retrospect, and only then do they explore funding sources. This article examines this issue and concludes that the costs of war and resulting damage to...

The IDF withdrawal from Lebanon 20 years ago and the renewed deployment along the UN-recognized international border was a unilateral move by Israel, welcomed by the international community. By contrast, the application of Israeli sovereignty over territory in the West Bank, also a unilateral move, will be the annexation of disputed territory between Israel and the Palestinians, and there is a broad consensus among leading international elements of its illegality. Three critical parameters of Israel’s exit from Lebanon may shed light...

Hezbollah’s military capabilities, which have been built up over recent decades with the help of Iran, are the leading conventional threat facing Israel. Since the end of the Second Lebanon War in 2006, the organization’s capabilities have strengthened both quantitatively and qualitatively, and its rocket and missile arsenal has increased more than ten-fold. The common assumption is that neither Israel nor Hezbollah is interested in war and that they are mutually deterred from it. Nonetheless, the risks of escalation have not waned,...

July 12, 2019 will mark the thirteenth anniversary of the outbreak of the Second Lebanon War; August 14 will mark the anniversary of its end under Security Council Resolution 1701; and discussions will be held at the United Nations headquarters regarding a renewal of UNIFIL’s mandate for another year. Resolution 1701 called for a ceasefire, prevention of renewed hostilities, and establishment of the area south of the Litani River as an area free of non-governmental arms, and called on Lebanon to impose its sovereignty over its...

The INSS 12th annual international conference addressed the web of challenges and opportunities Israel faces at the start of 2019. As in previous years, we chose strategic issues from the different spheres – domestic, regional, and international – that make up Israel’s strategic reality, and examine these individually and in context of one another. Continuing a trend from our previous conferences, we approached Israel’s national security priorities critically from a variety of perspectives.

The most salient topic in the UN secretary-general’s recent report on the implementation of Resolution 1701 are Hezbollah’s attack tunnels dug from Lebanon to Israel, exposed and neutralized during IDF Operation Northern Shield. Israel’s efforts in this regard, from actions on the ground to diplomatic activity, exposed additional dimensions of the challenging reality in southern Lebanon, particularly Hezbollah’s coordination of activity with the Lebanese government and its armed forces. In light of evident restrictions on UNIFIL’s...