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Troops with special skills have typically played strategic and tactical roles as valuable components of conventional military organizations. The start of World War II marked a change, wherein special forces (SF, as they were referred to in Britain, and special operational forces [SOF] in the United States) were separated and played roles distinct from conventional military forces. Recently, Finlan (2019) advanced the notion that since the start of World War II, three unique, punctuated ages of SOF have existed, reflecting various political-military needs and realities. First-age SOF were largely restricted to operations behind enemy lines, aiding the conventional forces. Second-age SOF fought in proxy wars, with and against guerrilla forces, and engaged in aiding political ends when nuclear realities rendered direct military confrontations between world powers too risky to contemplate. The advent of extremist ideology-related terrorism initiated a rethinking of the role of SOF and their initial mobilization to combat this growing threat. Third-age SOF became invaluable in the global fight against terrorism. This paper advances this theory by further delineating differences between the three ages and providing in-depth evidence supporting the soundness of the construct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the Palestinian/Arab two-step strategy in taking over the Middle East discourse on Western (mainly American and British) campuses in the past five decades. During this period, the main theme became “the occupied Palestinian territories” or “The Occupation.” The real objective, though, was and is the de-legitimization of the idea of Jewish statehood. The methodology is based on 150 interviews with Jewish activists who studied or worked on campuses in Europe and the United States during the last thirty-five years. After presenting a chronological survey and then analyzing the strategy’s operational techniques – goals, messages and techniques – the article suggests counter-responses for Israel and presents an outline for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]