A New Approach to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict<span class="book-review-title-italic">Israel Victory: How Zionists Win Acceptance and Palestinians Get Liberated</span> <span class="book-review-author">by Daniel Pipes</span>
In the 76 years since the founding of the modern state of Israel, the conflict with its Arab neighbors has consumed an enormous amount of the attention of national leaders, international organizations, diplomats, academics, and journalists. This conflict, which changed after the Israel-Egypt peace treaty of 1979 from one between and among sovereign states to a […]
After Nine Months, Israel Continues to Grind Down Hamas in Gaza
The war in Gaza after nine months shows no sign of concluding in the near term. Hamas and other groups in Gaza continue to hold on, after the IDF estimates it has killed or captured 14,000 Hamas members. In every area the IDF left, such as northern Gaza, Hamas returned, albeit in a diminished form.
Lessons for Postwar Gaza from the American Experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan
“Don’t repeat our mistakes—we can do it ourselves.” This line occurred to me as I listened to discussions of “the day after” in Gaza. Plans and ideas need to address the detailed problems of implementation. I do not pose as an expert on Israel or Palestinian affairs. Rather I draw from the painful lived experiences […]
Israel Debates Its Future Military Force Structure
In the midst of the current war in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces is evaluating its future force needs. Three Israeli insiders have differing views on the desirable future size and composition of the IDF. More Strategic Planning Moni Chorev, former division commander and general in the reserves, told me the following: The IDF must […]
Israel’s Paratrooper Dynasty
The systemic failure of October 7 has no single root nor one explanation. But the predominance for decades of one type of officer – paratroopers – at the top of Israel’s military hierarchy, lately exemplified by Chiefs of Staff Gantz, Kochavi and Halevi, is certainly part of the sad story. Lack of diversity at the […]
A New Era of Long Wars
The conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine signal a shift in the nature of warfare. The advent of long wars will affect both military strategy and broader national decision-making. Long wars require not just military readiness but also economic planning, especially civilian and military long-term logistical planning. For Israel, this is a particularly challenging development, as […]
A Multinational Authority for “the Day After” in Gaza
Hamas’s terrorist attack of October 7 and the Israeli, American, and Iranian/Iranian proxy responses have already fundamentally changed the Middle East. The priority now rightly is on ending the fighting, yet history shows that what comes after a war is as important as combat results in securing a lasting peace. To ensure that an attack […]
Israel and Greece in the Aftermath of October 7
On September 1, 1982, Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat stepped off the Greek cruise liner Atlantis, which had ferried him and some of his inner circle from Beirut to a marina just south of Athens, exiled by Israel’s invasion of Lebanon earlier that year. He was warmly welcomed on the dock by Greek Prime […]
No End to National Security Surprises
The surprise was total and horrific—Israeli men, women and children brutally killed or taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, 2023. Israel’s vaunted intelligence services failed to provide adequate warning, its military—the Israeli Defense Forces—failed to provide adequate security, and Israeli political leadership remained cocooned in their comfortable assumptions about risks to Israeli security posed by Palestinians in […]
Gaza-lighting: <br>How Israel’s Weakest Foe Became its Worst Enemy
Israel’s version of the Pentagon is a twin-towered office complex in HaKirya, the Compound, bordering what used to be the eastern outskirts of Tel Aviv, until 1948 when the city started expanding and flourishing. On the 14th floor of the complex is a corridor connecting the office suites of the two highest ranking officials. These […]
