Will the growing use of drones by the Gaza-based terror groups make the billion dollar Iron Dome and anti-tunnel barrier useless—or at least irrelevant? Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose (The more things change, the more they are the same.) – Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, French novelist (1849). Departing briefly from the upcoming elections, […]
The continued existence of the Left as a viable force in Israeli politics, despite the manifest failure of its political credo, is the gravest indictment of the Israeli Right. For by… faith more firm in their unhallowed principles, the bad have fairly earned a victory over the weak, the vacillating, inconsistent good. – William Wordsworth (1770 […]
Of all the policy paradigms for the resolution of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian-Arabs, incentivized Arab emigration is the most humane if it succeeds and least inhumane if it does not. “Past attempts to encourage Palestinians to voluntary emigrate have always failed, so time and effort would be better invested in reaching an […]
Notwithstanding AIPAC’s discomfort over the Omar-Tlaib case, there is more than a hint of hypocrisy in its joining the general assault on Israel. The brouhaha over the ruckus that erupted last Thursday between the Netanyahu government and the two radical, anti-Israeli Congresswomen, Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), refuses to subside. It continues to […]
Hamas’s use of children in clashes with IDF; with Col. (res.) Olivier Rafowicz.
“Every round of violence, in which the results are not a clear-cut IDF victory is, in the eyes of Israel’s enemies, another nail in the coffin of the Zionist entity.” – Veteran war correspondent, Ron Ben Yishai, June 1, 2019. …the ability to defeat the enemy means taking the offensive. Standing on the defensive indicates […]
The endeavor to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by economic means not only shows a grave defect in understanding its underlying causes, but inverts the causal relationship that generates & sustains it. The road to hell is paved with good intentions – An aphorism thought to have originated with Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (c. 1150). When […]
The huge investments made in defensive systems are slowly emerging as an exorbitant and costly failure—or at best a very partial and temporary success. The time has come to rethink Israel’s strategic paradigm. …the ability to defeat the enemy means taking the offensive. Standing on the defensive indicates insufficient strength; attacking, a superabundance of strength— […]
Despite possible short term difficulties, Israel should seize on the impending collapse of the Palestinian Authority as an opportunity to extricate itself from the deadly cul-de-sac, into which the Oslo process has lured it. It is all or nothing. We will not take any money if they do not give all of it—even if it […]
Intensive investment must be made in civil society frameworks that can not only draw the idea of extended Israeli sovereignty into the main-stream discourse as a legitimate political objective, but as one that can dominate that discourse I am going to extend sovereignty and I don’t distinguish between settlement blocs and the isolated settlements…From my […]
In issuing his recent presidential decree, recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, President Donald followed the commendable policy pattern he has set…of not following the policy patterns set by his predecessors. Recognizing reality Much like his decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Trump’s decision was, on the face of it, little more than […]
What has unfolded in Gaza should not really surprise anyone willing to face up to the inclement realities. After all, it was not only entirely foreseeable, but easily foreseen The nightmare stories of the Likud are well known. After all, they promised Katyusha rockets from Gaza as well. For a year, Gaza has been largely […]
In overturning a previous decision of the Knesset’s Central Elections Committee, the High Court took another giant step towards further undermining the already dwindling public confidence in the Israeli judiciary. In Israel, the negative impact of the judicialization of politics on the Supreme Court’s legitimacy is already beginning to show its mark. Over the past […]
Readers will recall that several weeks ago, I began a series of comparative analyses between our hard-pressed IISS and the well-heeled INSS, highlighting the huge imbalance in the resources that we each have at our disposal to advance our respective agendas. But the difference is not only in the massive imbalance in resources but in the substance of the countervailing policy paradigms that each […]
The two-state paradigm’s deadly detriments are now so glaringly apparent that it is becoming increasingly difficult to reconcile calls for Palestinian statehood with genuine concern for the well-being of the Jewish nation-state. Ladies and gentlemen, when the Palestinians say “two states” they do not mean what we mean—Maj-Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin , October 2018. With […]