Hamas’s Irrational Rationale

The Gaza Strip's rulers do not subscribe to governmental norms and are indifferent to their people's hardships, but the notion that Gazans will rise up against them is false. Still, reports of Hamas's eagerness for war with Israel are greatly exaggerated.

Gaza’s Inhabitants Share the Blame with Hamas

The claim that Gaza’s inhabitants are hapless victims of Hamas is highly questionable. Gazans are either silent about or openly supportive of the trading of corpses of Israeli soldiers in return for Hamas terrorists, a practice expressly forbidden by Islamic law. They accept with equanimity and even satisfaction the Hamas practice of releasing videos of Israeli soldiers for the express purpose of psychologically torturing their families and thereby extracting greater concessions from Israel. Gazans may well be unhappy with Hamas for bringing on electricity cuts, but they are hardly mere victims. Their support for Hamas indicates that they share responsibility for its practices.

Pay for Gazan Electricity? Clarifying the “Israeli Interest”

The electricity crisis in Gaza offers an opportunity for the Israeli government to promote security objectives. It must keep Gaza stable and maintain the separation between the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority and Hamas. The time has come to put an end to the extortion the enemy practices.

Gaza in the Dark Is Not So Terrible

Hamas wants Israel to supply it with electricity “or else”, but there is no reason why Israel should submit to Hamas extortion. It is not Israel’s obligation to satisfy the needs of a population that continues, through its ongoing support of Hamas, to pursue Israel’s destruction.

Indian Responses to Israel’s Gaza Operations

This study examines Indian governmental responses to the three major Israeli military interventions in the Gaza Strip over the past decade. It reviews the unprecedented parliamentary debate that took place in India during Operation Protective Edge, when the government sidestepped opposition demands for a resolution critical of Israel. It also assesses the Modi government’s intention to inject new dynamism into the India-Israel relationship.

Assessing the Gaza Disengagement, Ten Years Later

July 2015 (Hebrew) conference which took a ten-year retrospective look at Israel’s 2005 unilateral disengagement from Gaza. Watch the fascinating debate between Prof. AB Yehoshua and Rabbi Yaakov Medan.

Col. Richard Kemp: The Amoral Revolution in Western Values, and its Impact on Israel

BESA Center
May 20, 2015
Paper No. 298

To fight for Israel on the international stage is also to fight for the values of democracy, freedom of speech and expression, and civilized social values everywhere.

Gadi Eisenkot’s Challenges and Opportunities

Unlike many previous chiefs-of-staff for Israel’s Defense Forces (IDF), whose appointments were shadowed by controversies, the nomination this past week of Maj. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot as the 21st commander of the IDF has been widely welcomed.

Understanding the Gaza War: Strategic and Political Implications

Watch Prof. Efraim Inbar deliver a lecture to the Greenwich Jewish Federation on the strategic and political implications of the war in Gaza

Misplaced Frustration

Frustration over the final outcome of Operation Protective Edge is misplaced. The Israeli public needs to understand that Israel did not set out to topple Hamas.