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Over the past decades, neo-Zionist discourse has gain prominence in Israel. This approach, which gives preference to the definition of Israel as a Jewish state over its definition as a democracy, is a specific version authoritarian populism. This paper explores how educational discourses, policies and curricular changes are being shaped by right-wing populist organization and politicians to strengthen New-Zionism, while delegitimising liberal-democratic values. The paper draws on three examples. The first focuses on the campaign to ban the activist groups 'Breaking the Silence' -- a group of army veteran who collect testimonies on Israel's misconducts in the occupied territories -- from entering schools. The second example is the case of 'Im Tirtzu', a right-wing organization, and their campaign against left-wing influences in the academy. A third example focuses on the changes to the compulsory civic curriculum -- an example to the ways in which education is used to perpetuate a particular notion of Jewish nationalism. These cases help reveal the reactions of academic institutions to such actions, and the partial acceptance they have gained in recent years. They also show how the boundaries of the political were redrawn and the role education policy and institutions play in delegitimizing left-wing critique.

This paper offers a comparative study of Israel and Singapore to understand the national security policies of geographically smaller states. These states are militarily powerful, geographically small, and in close proximity with much larger potential adversaries. These states are also different in terms of their relationship with that much larger state as well as their independence narratives. Israel remains in a state of conflict with Iran through Syria and through terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. Israel was created through war. On the other hand, Singapore has a complicated relationship with Malaysia based on suspicious cooperation. Malaysia also allowed Singapore independence given differences in the voting behavior of Singaporeans. Both states share a military strategy of preemption or prevention. Since these states are geographically small, striking first may offer Israel and Singapore a better chance at avoiding annihilation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes Israel's changing understanding of its geostrategic posture from its establishment in 1948 to the current era. It starts by reviewing traditional Israeli geostrategic ideas and their implementation, mostly, as reflected in the nation's national security doctrine. The paper then investigates the effect of Israel's territorial expansion after 1967 on Israeli ideas about geostrategy. Finally, the paper shows how changing global, regional, and technological variables in the last two decades have transformed how Israeli elites understand their geostrategic realities and how they allocate resources in response to these changing conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper stems from curiosity as to whether there are differences in the outcomes or abilities of militaries to function effectively when females are included. Notions of high-stakes warfare, the physiology of both genders, tradition, and a culture built upon hypermasculine ideals deserve consideration within the context of both 21st-century feminist thought and overall fighting aptitude. In the pages that follow, the militaries of the United States, Israel, and Sweden are examined to 1) determine what women specifically contribute within a military setting, and 2) argue that integration aligns with priorities of both feminism and national security. Specifically, I assert that optimized incorporation of women into American military roles will produce more cohesive, robust, and capable forces that ultimately better promote national security. Further, I argue that this progressive integration is essential to dissolving the outdated, gendered assumption that to include women is to shift the primary focus of a military from a necessary protective institution into a social experiment doomed to collapse. If women are successfully integrated and able to improve the overall outcomes of military operations, then there is reason to believe such inclusion is both necessary for security purposes and aligning nations with modern demands for gender equality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU's normative promotion is a keystone in the arch of its Foreign and Security Policy, reflected in establishing a "ring of friends" in its neighbourhood. However, the EU's normative impact in these countries is often hindered by domestic constraints. Conversely, deeper socialisation through persuasion and "learning" may advance towards the promotion of EU norms better. By tracing the "learning" component of the EU's external perceptions in its Eastern (Ukraine) and Southern (Israel and Palestine) neighbourhoods, this paper elaborates upon the receptiveness of EU norms. Considering the specific attention that the ENP draws towards the support of civil society, this paper focuses on "learning" narratives of EU norms among civil society elites in Ukraine, Israel and Palestine as the key targets of EU assistance – with a particular focus on various conceptualisations of learning in the learning process. Notwithstanding perceptions of the EU as a normative power, we find that the learning processes remain too complex to be captured within a single theoretical framework. Whereas communicative rationality implies learning about each other's identities through rational arguing, our analysis demonstrates that identity performance is one of the most emotive and crucial factors in perceptions of learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Bingol University Journal of Economics & Administrative Science is the property of Bingol University Journal of Economics & Administrative Science and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The main issue this paper deals with is the status of the Palestinian minority in Israel (Referred to in the literature using different terms: ‘Palestinians in Israel’, ‘Arabs in Israel’, ‘Arab citizens of Israel’, ‘the Palestinian minority’ and ‘Palestinians inside 1948’.) as part of what Israel considers its national security. It will examine the centrality of Israel’s Jewish character, as a component of Israeli national security, representing a model for the expansion of that which is encompassed by the concept of national security. Within this context, the minority’s presence and demands for equality poses a threat to the national security of Israel and of the Jewish majority. This concept and trend has gained traction in recent years with the ascension to power of the right wing and the ‘rising threats’ to Israel following the Arab Spring events. Majority forces within and outside the Knesset have attempted to consolidate Israel’s Jewish character by passing laws and formulating policies that identify its Jewish character as a red line – a key plank of national security. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: While there has been increasing global recognition and impetus for action to transform food systems towards greater food security, sustainability and better health outcomes, Israel has only recently begun to focus on the diverse challenges of its food system and its potential for transformation. Methods: An expert opinion survey (n = 50) on Israel's food system was conducted as part of a larger study on the systemic features of Israel's food system transition to understand its policy gaps and find strategies towards a healthy and sustainable food system. The survey ranks the relevance and importance of food system challenges and policy preferences. Policy implications are then examined by identifying potential priorities, gaps and dissensus. Results: The survey finds that there is a majority agreement (76%) that Israel's food policies are lacking or severely lacking. Respondents relate strongly to both concepts of nutritional security (90% think that access to nutritious food is relevant or highly relevant) and national food security (more than 80% perceive food security as part of national security). Respondents overwhelmingly recognize the benefits of Israeli agriculture with 60–90% agreeing or strongly agreeing that it benefits food security, economic value and national identity. Top-ranked problems include overall systemic problems such as the lack of national goals, strategic planning, and integrated policymaking across ministries, and specific ones such as food waste, costly farming inputs, and food affordability. The most preferred policy actions include establishing a national strategy for food and agriculture, making food affordable for vulnerable households, and incentivising sustainable farming methods. The key policy gaps include the lack of resilience in agriculture and the food system, insufficient data and knowledge for policy action, inadequate attention to the regulation of the food industry for better health and inadequate food policy attention for minority groups. Conclusions: Building on this study's findings, further policy research and implementation areas to be covered include government responsibility for universal food security, strategic systemic policies for food systems, prevention and preparedness for future crises, and promoting resilience. The way forward may best be through an inter-ministerial committee with the responsibility, budgets, mandate and executive authority to plan data-driven policies for a sustainable food system for Israel's future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The national security realm poses great challenges to senior military officers and civilian officials. These leaders oftentimes attend designated Joint Professional Military Education (JPME) institutions as a prerequisite for their futrue appointments. The article examines how these colleges and universities instill in their graduates the intellectual capacity to effectively engage and solve macro-level and acute strategic challenges as well as employ critical thinking skills to ensure intellectual agility and flexibility. The article compares the Israel National Defense College (INDC) and the National Defense University (NDU) to identify the differences and similarities between the two institutions and explain what it says about the Israeli and the American strategic culture and approach to the future of national security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does secrecy shape narratives of militarized hegemonic masculinity? This article assesses a gap at the intersection between theories of masculinities and organizational secrecy. Supported by 15 interviews with current and former male workers of a covert section of an Israeli national security organization, it argues that secrecy is experienced as both an external hurdle and a central component to the way that men internalize masculinity. Unable to access social capital outside the security organization, the respondents of the study construct a social field inside it through which they can assert their masculinity. They do so by conceptualizing their jobs, themselves, and the organization through a prism of sacrificial warriorhood, and actively incorporate secrecy's constraints into a narrative of "super-men". This study thus examines secrecy in the context of a militarized environment, showing the experience of masculinity and a perceived lack of power-access among members of a dominant group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Mu’tah Lil-Buḥūth wad-Dirāsāt: Humanities & Social Sciences Series is the property of Mutah University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article examines the means by which Israel has sought to fulfill the contradictory goals involved with maintaining contacts with emigrants while simultaneously sustaining a national mission that asserts Jews can only achieve fulfilment, security, and self-determination by residing in their own country. It describes three successive approaches by which Israel and the larger global Jewish community have addressed the challenges associated with Israeli emigration. These are condemnation, pragmatic acceptance, and the assent of the Israeli American Council. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

On 23 July 1968, The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacked El Al flight 426 en route from Italy to Israel and diverted it to Algeria. Scholars largely agree this act marked an important milestone in modern international terrorism and especially in the advent of air terrorism. Yet to date, no one has studied in depth the events as they unfolded in different world capitals, along with their implications for national and global security and politics. Based on previously untapped archival material, this article will focus on how the hijacking of El Al flight 426 modeled a new era of plane hijackings by, for example, setting a standard that hostages of a hijacked plane could be exchanged for prisoners. It will also demonstrate how some elements of this event did not repeat themselves in future hijackings, such as the demand made by the Algerians to hold onto the Israeli plane, arguing it was an instrument of war. In all, this article will exhibit how elements from the 23 July 1968 hijacking served to signify a shift in international air terrorism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since October 2020 there is a new actor in Israel's maritime space and energy sector after the Chevron Corporation acquired Noble Energy. This article examines the first year under the headings: financial aspects, regional politics, the UAE and the Abraham Accords, the EastMed natural gas pipeline, security aspects, Chevron and local companies and scandals and environmental aspects. The analysis determines the historical significances and projects ways forward, for a win–win outcome for Chevron and Israel. Chevron has ability to make the EastMed pipeline happen may also have positive ramifications for regional politics. Israel as a regulator will not permit Chevron to gain a larger stake of the gas fields, or even increase prices to the IEC and so to consumers. Israel will aim to ensure that Chevron will not cut corners that could result in labour issues, health and safety dangers, and environmental catastrophe. The Israel Navy has procured four new warships, to meet the gas fields' direct security needs, permitting a Brown Water doctrine shift while enabling enhanced power projection capability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the issues affecting military relations and security cooperation between Israel and Turkey. Topics discussed include the installation of foundations for improved military relations beginning in the 1990s and the efforts of both governments to enhance national security. The shift in the foreign policy paradigm of Turkey and the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians are then mentioned.

This article examines relations between the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and the State of Israel from the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1962 to 2020. It analyses the internal and external factors influencing their foreign and security policies as well as mutual misunderstandings and the attendant problems, notably the failure to sign a free trade agreement till 2020. Despite these difficulties, and the geostrategic complexity of the Middle East, especially the Persian Gulf, that influences Seoul's interests in the region and its relations with Israel, the bilateral relationship will further improve once the free trade agreement is ratified by both states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Invasive security practices create resentment, especially when targeting minority groups. Many studies of homeland security as well as of general policing practices, emphasized the harm such security checks produce; however, they could not tell us what effect avoiding these practices had on perceptions of trust. Methods: Our study follows a security screening reform in Israel's Ben-Gurion international airport, a reform that was done to eliminate a specific practice which we found, in a previous study, to cause significant emotional harm. Employing a quasi-experimental design, we tested the effect that avoiding that specific harmful component had on perception of trust among Israeli citizens of Arab ethnicity. Results: We found that eliminating that harmful component of the security screening was highly effective in improving the feelings of Israeli citizens of Arab ethnicity. Conclusion: We found that limited trust and perceptions of unfair treatment are not inevitable feelings among minorities, even in stressful situations such as airport security screening, as they predominantly depend not on background characteristics, but rather on the characteristics of the direct treatment they receive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the latter half of the 1940s, senior U.S. national security officials opposed Zionist aspirations for an independent state and sought to keep the Truman administration from actively facilitating that effort. Even though President Harry Truman himself expressed strong public backing for the new state of Israel, the reality, as recognized at the time by Israel's leaders and by prominent U.S. liberal political leaders and journalists, was that the United States was less firm, less consistent, and less consequential in supporting the establishment of the state of Israel than were the Soviet Union and the Communist states of Eastern Europe, especially Czechoslovakia and Poland. The situation that existed in 1947--1948, with significant U.S. government opposition and Soviet-bloc support for Israel, is evident from declassified files of the U.S. State Department and public records of the United Nations (UN). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Middle East Studies Journal (MESJ) is the property of Middle East Studies Journal & Jordan Research Institute and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Over the past 20 years both Israel and Germany have become destination countries for unaccompanied minors (UM), albeit at different speeds and scales and in contrasting geopolitical settings. This article compares the reception and integration of UM in the two countries with a particular focus on their access to education and employment. The movement of UM over borders goes hand in hand with the drawing of legal, ideological, and conceptual boundaries within these two countries that discriminate between citizens and foreigners. However, the answers provided by the respective migration regimes could not be more different, even though both countries are signatories to the relevant international conventions on UM: while in Germany the primacy of child and youth welfare is applied, the Israeli authorities consider UM as illegal 'infiltrators' and a threat to national security and the Jewish State. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

State investments in domestic defence industries are one of the most puzzling trends in international relations. Economists contend that these investments waste resources, while political scientists claim that armaments' resultant overproduction fuels arms races. Why then do governments cultivate defence industries? I draw on cases from Israel, South Africa and Iraq to argue that the answers to these questions are distinct. Fears about supply security frequently spur states to begin developing arms industries, and elites' techno-nationalist beliefs often sustain their defence-industrial investments. Defence industries' primary national security value, however, lies in their hitherto unappreciated contribution to states' military adaptation capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Middle East Studies Journal (MESJ) is the property of Middle East Studies Journal & Jordan Research Institute and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article argues that Syria considers Israel as an existential threat and that peace or coexistence between the two sides is impossible in the long run, due to the fact that Syria's perception of its own history and identity, as an entity that consists of a majority belonging to one ethnicity, (90 percent Arabs), and various religious groups, is in direct conflict with Israel's perception of its own history (80 percent Jews from various ethnicities). This renders Syrian national security in direct conflict with Israel's perception of its national security. In addition, both sides are competing over the same sphere of influence which is Greater Syria. This has rendered any reconciliation impossible between the two sides and has led to a continuous struggle with the failure of all efforts to establish peace and end the conflict between them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Scientific Journal of the Military University of Land Forces is the property of Gen. Tadeusz Kosciuszko Military Academy of Land Forces and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

How do publics around the world view Israel? With which side of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict are their sympathies and why? Using Pew survey data from 45 countries we analyse individual-level attitudes towards the two sides to the conflict, testing the influence of security factors, regime types and economic relations, as well as religious identity. We find a large range of attitudes, including high levels of sympathy for both Israel and the Palestinians as well as high levels of neutrality. Religious identity plays the most central role in determining whom to support, whereas economic and security factors are secondary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last two decades, terrorism has become a major issue around the world. We analyze a continuous conflict between a terrorist (Terrorist) and a passive defender (Defender). Defender is passive because her actions can influence only the costs (damages) when Terrorist attacks. We focus on high‐trajectory fire attacks and passive responses to them in the conflict between Israel and the various terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip in accordance with scientific principles. We first consider three sources of data on this part of the conflict and based on these data we make several observations on the sustainability of cease fires, the use of technologies, different attacks, and the frequency of attacks, using high‐trajectory fire. To explain these observations, we present several stylized game theoretical models. Specifically, we consider single‐ and multi‐period games. In each period, Terrorist may attack Defender, who may in turn try to prevent damage. We show that given this conflict's political situation, our models are in agreement with the observations from the data. We also present an extension that considers an active defender. This extension also agrees with the observations from the data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efforts to isolate and delegitimise nations pose a growing danger to state security. The components used in such efforts are, however, not fully understood. This article expands upon existing research by proposing that there are seven areas in which states can face isolation efforts: political, economic, military, sociocultural, media, lawfare, and religious. Moreover, it proposes the idea of ‘destruction-oriented’ isolation, which aims to destroy a state, not merely create change. The ongoing campaign against Israel serves as the case study. Gaining a better understanding of these different tools will allow states to better prepare themselves to withstand these threats. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

While attention to security has grown exponentially over the last few decades, militarism – the preparation for and normalization and legitimation of war – has not received the widespread and sustained focus it warrants in mainstream or critical circles. Rather than stake a claim for one concept over the other, however, this article – and the special issue to which it serves as an introduction – asks how we are to understand the relationship between security and militarism, both as analytical tools and as objects of analysis. We examine, first, what analytical and political work militarism and security do as concepts, and how they can be mobilized methodologically; second, what the possibilities are of fruitful exchange between knowledges produced about these concepts or practices; and, third, what the limits are of militarism and security. In the process, we address the shifts in the world that international relations and its related subfields study; shifts in the institutional framing and materiality of fields and subfields of research; and shifts in how international relations studies the world. Read together, the contributions to the special issue make the case for a reinvigorated focus on the mutual co-constitution of militarism and security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the ever-growing significance of international law both domestically and internationally, courts mediate much of the give and take between the international system and the national political arenas, thus acting in settings where global and local are mixed. Such a pivotal position, I argue, lends courts the ability to maximize a twofold utility, which is inextricably linked. First, on the international level, judicial institutions play an increasingly important role and form what is essentially a transnational epistemic community. Second, on the domestic level, courts capitalize on this pivotal position to become increasingly central in the decision-making process, forming alliances with other domestic players and thereby securing the implementation of judicial rulings. A case study of decisions of the Israeli Supreme Court concerning the security fence Israel built around the Occupied Territories is offered as an empirical test for the Court-Pivot Dual Utility Model that I present in this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By drawing on the literature about security regimes, this article posits the idea that a particular type of regime, which can be termed a “tacit security regime” (TSR), has begun to emerge between Israel, on the one hand, and several Gulf Arab states, on the other. It is a regime which, unlike liberal institutional variants that attempt to privilege the promotion of collective norms, remains configured around perceptions of threats to be countered and strategic interests to be realized. By examining the development, scope, and scale of this nascent TSR, this article explores the extent to which Israel, mindful of Washington, DC’s regional retrenchment, sees the emergence of such a regime as redefining the political and strategic contours of Israel’s relations with much of the Middle East. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A qualitative analysis of the Israeli prime minister's 'silence address' to the UN General assembly in October 2015 provides a kaleidoscope of Israeli perceptions about silence. The model that emerges from field research grounded theory includes silence as an entity in its own right, silence compared with other entities, and silence as belonging to broader contexts. Quotes from primary sources such as live commentaries covering Netanyahu's address and written materials include professional journalists' along with non-professional postings on the Internet, and their analyses are interwoven into the discussion of themes and interrelations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Israel’s space programme both provides tangible capabilities to deal with security threats and projects a message of national might. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the differences between strategic intelligence and counterintelligence, a much less researched subfield of the intelligence discipline. One reason for this scholarly neglect is the perception of counterintelligence as highly sensitive due to its preoccupation with internal affairs, considered too confidential for open discussion. Another reason is the apparent lack of understanding of the real contribution of counterintelligence to national security. This article seeks to fill this scholarly lacuna. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the Israeli government's design of the first Israeli National Cyber Security Strategy. Topics covered include how the 1995 assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks influenced national-level intelligence and security decisions, the establishment of the Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) arrangement in 2002, and the establishment of the National Cyber Initiative task force in 2011. Also mentioned are the creation of the Israel National Cyber Bureau, elements of the Israeli Concept of Operations (CONOP), and the strategy's implications for international security.

The article examines the perception of the threat of a nuclear attack by Iran upon Israel among the Israeli political leadership and national security elite of the early 21st century, particularly Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his concerns about an agreement concerning Iran's nuclear program negotiated by the U.S. and other western countries. The article discusses various levels of the Iranian threat, identified as existential, proliferation, conventional, and spillover, the framing of the threat with the Holocaust, and an evaluation of what is identified as the alarmist Israeli argument concerning the irrationality of the Iranian government.

This study contributes to the debate on the role of nonnuclear (conventional) deterrence in international security by examining the Israeli practice of this strategy. By analyzing a case outside of Western strategic thought, which traditionally has dominated deterrence theory, it demonstrates how strategic thinking evolves differently in various ideational realms. The article highlights the impact of strategic culture on the Israeli conceptualization of deterrence, explores its deficits, and yields lessons for theoreticians and practitioners from the challenges of intra-war coercion operations. The study introduces the innovative term “culminating point of deterrence,” calls for improving analytical techniques for deterrence evaluation, claims that successful conventional deterrence perpetuates political conflict, stimulates the adversary's dangerous innovations, and argues for a tailored approach not only for formulating deterrence strategy, but also for exploring deterrence policies of different actors. The findings of the study are applicable beyond the Israeli case and are relevant to actors utilizing coercion strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Past and planned reductions in ground-force units are imperilling the Israel Defense Forces’ ability to provide for Israel's security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Palestinian Authority has become a major recipient of development assistance with a primary area of focus on the development of security capacities. As a case study in the securitisation of aid, this article demonstrates how Canadian development aid has been almost exclusively aimed towards areas of security enhancements. Detailing what Canadian security development actors call ‘the Canadian factor’, the article argues that the securitisation of aid is a mobilisation of security expertise to advance the strategic interests of major donors. In detailing the donors as beneficiaries of aid, the article describes how the ‘success story’ of development aid in Palestine is a reflection of how security aid functions to advance the interests of donors as opposed to populations under the recipient authorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two topics taking center stage in the public economic discourse in Israel are the government's fiscal policy, particularly the defense budget, and the various factors contributing to economic inequality. This essay surveys the latest developments in both topics, discusses their ramifications for Israel's national security, and offers policy insights about the macroeconomic challenges facing the economy. In the short term, the economy needs to be managed on the basis of informed fiscal policy, helped by the establishment of a fiscal council. This policy would include a rationalization of defense budget planning. In the long term, the country must fundamentally tackle the inequality in the economy by, inter alia, changing tax policy, incentivizing work, and significantly investing in the human infrastructure of the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Israeli foreign policy is a complex process comprising national and Jewish dimensions, whereby the government has often to strike a delicate balance between the desire to protect Israel’s national interests and the need to consider the interests of diaspora Jews. This problem becomes particularly pronounced with regard to national security issues as the security echelons tend to interfere in pure foreign policy issues in total disregard of the Jewish dimension of this policy, and nowhere was this phenomenon more starkly demonstrated than the Lavon and Pollard affairs of the 1950s and 1980s. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Arab Awakening was a strategic surprise for the Israeli military intelligence (AMAN), but did not cause immediate damage for the security of Israel because of the internal character of events. At an early stage AMAN recognized the general direction of the upheavals, which were more conflicts rather than the establishment of a democratic new order in the Middle East. The Arab Awakening operated as an intervening factor, escalating some of Israel’s major security challenges and de-escalating others. AMAN provided strategic intelligence warnings (of Iran’s military nuclear plan) and actionable intelligence (about Hezbollah’s infrastructure across the Syrian border), but presumed to assess the stability of regimes in a chaotic environment (Egypt, Syria), faced difficulties in monitoring capabilities of new actors (ISIS) and intentions of adversaries (Hamas). Fighting Hamas and Hezbollah, AMAN might subordinate itself to the strategy of deterrence rather than defeating the enemy. AMAN’s chiefs viewed the Arab Awakening as a facilitator to implement an unbalanced intelligence concept focusing on “shaping reality”, undermining the strategic analysis that must remain central to intelligence work. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]