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21st Century Threats Facing Israel

(Institute for Contemporary Affairs/Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Maj. Gen. Dan Haloutz - Israeli society is the first place where legitimacy is needed for military actions. Many of the questions raised regarding our actions come from the Israeli people. Being raised on democracy and pluralism, being raised as an open society, Israeli society asks questions that we must answer with the right answers. Low-intensity conflicts are continuous, compared with full-scale conflicts that are usually shorter, sharper, and with an end result to the conflict that is much clearer. Continuous conflict is a kind of war of attrition, not only between military forces, but also between societies. It comes down to which society can endure more, which society is capable of bearing the conflict and continuing their lives at the same time. Our neighbors are now dispersing their military forces as part of a new doctrine calling for a "low signature," meaning mainly a change from armored forces to infantry forces, with a greater use of anti-tank missiles, shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, and katyusha rockets. The challenge of full-scale war is not behind us. Many countries in the region do not accept the presence of Israel as a natural fact. If the time comes that someone in the region thinks we have lost our strength, we can expect to be challenged. Israel must also very carefully follow the potential for regime changes in the region, and we must face the fact that Western weapons are replacing Eastern bloc weapons, a factor that poses a great risk to Israel in the hands of unfriendly regimes. Maj. Gen. Dan Haloutz is Commander of the Israel Air Force.
2004-02-03 00:00:00
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