Preparing for Upheaval

The Fellowship  |  January 8, 2019

The Israeli government and people are preparing for elections that will take place this April. And because of this internal focus, they could be open to attacks and challenges from the outside. Writing at The Jerusalem Post, Israeli General and intelligence officer Eli Ben Meir warns that Israel’s many enemies will make every attempt to disrupting the safety and security of the Jewish state:

As happens at the beginning of every secular New Year, all Israeli governmental bodies – including the security establishment – assess the events of the past year and set goals for the future.

This process is much more important and complex this year for a number of reasons: The IDF chief of staff and his deputy are being replaced; Knesset elections will be taking place in a few months; and the geo-strategic security situation is still quite precarious…

The following are some of subjects that will be presented to the political echelon and which will have the greatest influence on the security situation in Israel in the coming months:

First is the IDF’s freedom of movement in Syria, which is strengthening militarily and politically under Assad’s rule; second is a de facto mutual deterrent balance has recently come to exist in the Gaza Strip, which will most likely be challenged by Hamas in the upcoming months (in an effort to influence Israeli elections, as happened in 1996) and by other Iranian-backed organizations operating out of Gaza; and third is IDF freedom of movement in Lebanon, with extra attention on efforts by Iran and Hezbollah as they scramble to militarize and build specialized machinery in Lebanon…

It’s unlikely that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will come to an end in the upcoming year considering the violent rocket attacks that have come out of Gaza in the last few months and the potential for escalation or unrest. With the weakening of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and the power struggle among contenders vying for Mahmoud Abbas’s seat, Israeli authorities are hoping to stabilize cooperation with the PA and Palestinian security forces and to maintain Egyptian involvement in the Gaza Strip.

Israel is still, of course, also contending with the Iranian threat. In the upcoming months we will continue to deal with conflict with Iran and its satellite states that border Israel, which could even swell to greater proportions. We must continue to observe Iran’s military efforts to bolster Hezbollah’s precision-missile factories in Syria, which is continuing despite US sanctions.

And last, Israel must continue to contend with fake news sites and cyberattacks. As a highly advanced technological and democratic country, Israel is even more exposed than in the past to cyberthreats made by terrorist organizations. We must also prepare ourselves for additional attempts to influence Israeli public consciousness on social networks and in the media…