The Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies and its Director, Efraim Karsh, mourn the passing of the mother of our colleague Dr. Eitan Shamir.
יום עיון בנושא עשור לפיצול הפנים פלסטיני
יום רביעי, כ'”ז בסיון תשע”ז, 21 ביוני 2017
אולם הסנט, בניין פלדמן (301), אוניברסיטת בר-אילן
13:30 – 17:00.
לפרטים המלאים
The Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies Upcoming Lectures at the BESA Center Wednesday, December 14, 2016 at 5:00 pm China’s Rising Role in a Changing Middle East Since 2011 Prof. Pan Guang Prof. Pan Guang is Vice Chairman of the Shanghai Center for International Studies, Director of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Studies Center, Dean of the Center
In this fascinating and revealing interview, Col. (res.) Dr. Eran Lerman discusses his six-year tenure as deputy for foreign policy and international affairs at the National Security Council in the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office. He addresses Prime Minister Netanyahu’s far-reaching concessions to the Palestinians, Israeli preparations for an attack on Iran, US clandestine surveillance, and Israeli ties with Arab countries. Dr. Lerman joined the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies in October 2015.
In this round-table debate, BESA Center experts discuss Israel’s policy options in responding to Palestinian terrorism and reinforcing Israel’s hold in its capital city. They also discuss the expansion of Jerusalem, proposals for sharing Jerusalem, how to handle Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem, and Jewish prayer on Temple Mount.
Conference video available online – The Decline of Civilizations, April 28, 2015
The new Likud-led government will be faced with a range of sharp security challenges.
Conference video online – Israel’s Future Security. Wednesday, March 11, 2015
The United States’ policy in response to both Iran and the Islamic state is confusing and contradictory. Washington must reexamine the Iranian threat by confronting it, rather than appeasing its leaders.
In 2015, Israel’s military must be prepared for both ground warfare against Islamist extremists and an operation in Iran.
Moderate leaders warn that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict may turn from a national conflict into a religious one. Right-wing leaders claim it has been a religious conflict from the start. Both approaches have been applied to the Temple Mount crisis, and both are affected by a totalist perception of the understanding of the religious imperative.
The concept of “settler colonialism” has been applied with almost unique vehemence against Israel. But the fact that Jews are the indigenous population of the Southern Levant can be proved with ease. In contrast, historical and genealogical evidence shows Palestinians descend primarily from three primary groups: Muslim invaders, Arab immigrants, and local converts to Islam. The Muslim conquest of Byzantine Palestine in the 7th century CE is a textbook example of settler-colonialism, as is subsequent immigration, particularly during the 19th and 20th centuries under the Ottoman and British Empires. The application of the concept to Jews and Zionism by Palestinians is both ironic and unhelpful.
North Korea’s nuclearization has implications for Israel’s nuclear deterrence posture. There are several plausible means by which a nuclear conflict could arise in the Middle East. It may be time to consider a phase-out of Israel’s “deliberate nuclear ambiguity” and to focus Israeli planning around evaluations of enemy rationality.
Former PM Ehud Barak’s arguments in favor of withdrawal from Judea and Samaria undercut Israel’s security and are a departure from the Oslo Accords’ security vision. Israel would be wise to present President Trump with actual facts on this issue.
Many American detractors of Israel begin by citing that Israel receives the lion’s share of US military aid. The very suggestion conjures the demon of an all-powerful Israel lobby that has turned the US Congress into its pawn. But these figures, while reflecting official direct US military aid, are almost meaningless in comparison to the real costs and benefits of US military aid – above all, American boots on the ground. In reality, Israel receives only a small fraction of American military aid, and most of that was spent in the US to the benefit of the American economy.
The Oslo diplomatic process is the starkest strategic blunder in Israel’s history and one of the worst calamities ever to have afflicted Israelis and Palestinians. Twenty three years after its euphoric launch on the White House lawn, the Oslo ‘peace process’ has substantially worsened the position of both parties, and made the prospects for peace and reconciliation ever more remote.
