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Israel Must Defend Itself on Its Own - While Cooperating with Allies

(BESA Center for Strategic Studies-Bar-Ilan University) Amb. Zalman Shoval - The principle "to defend itself with its own forces" is fundamental to Israel's concept of national security. There is no contradiction between this basic Israeli principle and Israel's comprehensive cooperation with the U.S. American military aid constitutes 16% of the Israeli defense budget and about 2% of the general budget. It also entails Israeli access to the American security system, with its wide dimensions and possibilities. Calling Israel "America's continental aircraft carrier" was an exaggeration, but the facts that Israel is the only democratic and stable country in the Middle East and that it has a developed technological, scientific, and military capacity have increased its value to the Americans. From time to time, the idea of a defense agreement between Israel and the U.S. has been floated, but its critics see it, rightly, as a possible violation of Israel's freedom of military action, without adding much to the existing security arrangements. The Israeli concept of security, designed by David Ben-Gurion, is based on the transfer of war to the enemy's territory. Ben-Gurion strove to prioritize deterrence actions and to strive for decisive victory as quickly and overwhelmingly as possible. On Oct. 7, and in fact well before it, Israeli deterrence lost many of its components. This was the result, in part, of Israel's refusal to act strongly against the terrorist attacks of Hamas and Islamic Jihad and its reliance instead on the economic benefits of a more tolerant approach. The writer was Israel's ambassador to the U.S. twice (1990-1993 and 1998-2000).
2024-08-27 00:00:00
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