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A Note of Optimism for Israel's Future
(Jerusalem Post) Yossi Melman - To Israel's north on the Lebanese border, which will soon mark the tenth anniversary of the 2006 Second Lebanon War, Hizbullah is deterred. True, it has accumulated a huge arsenal of rockets capable of hitting almost any strategic and military site in Israel. Hizbullah also has gained impressive battlefield experience in Syria, but it is bogged down in the killing fields there. In the Golan Heights, al-Qaeda and Islamic State terrorists on the Syrian side of the border have learned to live in co-existence with their Israeli neighbors. The terrorists have not changed their ideology or softened their hatred toward Jews and Israelis. But, like Hizbullah, they are preoccupied fighting other enemies more important to them and are deterred knowing that Israel would harshly retaliate. To the east, Israeli-Jordanian relations have never been better, with improved security ties and intelligence cooperation. In the south, the same is true of Egyptian-Israeli relations. The intelligence communities and militaries of the two countries cooperate in the war against the terrorists in Sinai who have pledged allegiance to Islamic State. Cairo and Jerusalem also see eye-to-eye with regard to how to deal with Hamas in Gaza. Unlike in the past, Israel doesn't face any threat or danger from Arab armies because of the peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan and because the armies of Iraq and Syria have disintegrated. While Iran has a strong military force and missiles capable of reaching Israel, Iran's Sunni Arab enemies have turned to Israel, which is reaching out with secret military and intelligence deals to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The writer was a senior correspondent for 27 years on national security, intelligence and strategic issues at the Israeli daily Ha'aretz.