Implications for Israel of the Joint Terrorist Military Exercise in the Gaza Strip

Omer Dostri
January 8, 2021
Paper No. 1874

The first joint military exercise of the Gaza terrorist organizations was a milestone for Hamas, which wishes to unite these organizations in order to strengthen its control over the Strip as well as its “ambiguity strategy” vis-à-vis Israel. The exercise has implications for Israel at both the strategic and the operational levels as it prepares for a possible conflagration in Gaza.

Cautious Optimism in Ramallah Regarding Biden

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has a long wish list for the Biden administration, but its initial approach will be restrained and realistic. It is understood among the Palestinian leadership that the new administration will not address the Israeli-Palestinian issue in the short term. Regardless, Israel must establish reliable channels to President-elect Biden, and the sooner the better.

Three Months After the Abraham Accords, the Palestinians Have Lost the Arab Street

The relative complacency with which the “Arab street” received the Abraham Accords, which might have seemed an aberration at the time of signing, has now faded. Former Israeli Arab MK Jamal Zahalka, who is only two years away from a lavish government pension, is now pining for the emergence of a modern-day Saladin to destroy the Jewish State and the Arab traitors.

BESA’s Top Ten of 2020

BESA Center
January 6, 2021
Paper No. 1871

During 2020, the BESA Center consolidated its position as the globally most widely read Israeli think tank in its field, with page views growing twofold to nearly 3.5 million. Below are the ten most widely read articles published in 2020. The selections reflect strong reader interest in the COVID-19 pandemic and its origin, great-power rivalries, and Israel’s national security and relations with the Arab world.

Whither the Iran Nuclear Deal?

The incoming Biden administration is keen to return to the nuclear deal with Iran, provided it contains “some amendments.” This is in contrast to the Europeans, who are mostly willing to return to the agreement as it stands. The director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is demanding that a new nuclear agreement be signed, or at least that the previous agreement be changed in such a way as to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear break-out.

After Political Partition Between the PA and Hamas’s Gaza, Now Economic Boycott

Israel has been increasingly successful at confronting its foes one on one. The Palestinians have not operated against Israel as a united force since 2007, and the threat of a Hamas boycott of PA goods might be deepening the divide between the two even further.

The Swamp Returns to Washington

The incoming Biden administration has begun to appoint personnel and articulate policies, both directly and through the extended voice of the foreign policy establishment and the media. The return of second-tier Obama administration personnel and the marginalization of left-wing progressives portends a return to the process-laden policies of the past. International agreements and institutions, and a return to 20th century “rules” and “norms”, are unlikely to be adequate to confront rogue states like China and Iran.

Saudi Arabia vs. the Muslim Brotherhood

A dispute over the role of religion in government constitutes the main rift in the world of Sunni Islam. This controversy also defines the two main camps in that world with regard to Western countries in general and Israel in particular.

Is America’s Fourth Estate in Foreclosure?

The modern American usage of the term “fourth estate” refers to the press as a free power, and even as a watchdog over the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the US government. Today, however, it is the watchdog that needs watching.

A Serious Moral Failure at Yad Vashem

The public discourse on the issue of replacing the director of Yad Vashem indicates that the institution no longer presents the Holocaust as a unique phenomenon and the most horrible enactment of antisemitism to have ever occurred, but as a crime against humanity that could occur in any society whose values are not liberal, including Israel. Yad Vashem, which was designed to perpetuate the memory of the Holocaust and its victims, now trumpets the values of European liberalism—the very values that paved the way to a crime like no other in world history.

Perspectives Papers