Annual assessment summarizes main points of Israel’s strategic environment in terms of national security, and specifies range of policy recommendations for decision makers
Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) published its 2022 Strategy Survey for the country earlier this week. This annual assessment summarizes the main points of an analysis of Israel’s strategic environment in terms of national security, and specifies a range of policy recommendations for decision makers.
“Israel’s strategic situation is marked by its failure to maximize its security, economic, and technological potential in its response to the political, security, and internal challenges it faces,” notes the report from the get-go. “This is due to the lack of an integrated, consistent, and long-term strategic approach.”
Unsurprisingly, the INSS researchers point to Iran as Israel’s center of challenges, stating that it “continues to strive for a nuclear threshold, and already has the capabilities required for a breakout to a nuclear weapon within a space of weeks.”
Another major threat is what is happening in the Palestinian arena, particularly due to the drift towards a one-state reality, something which presents “a very serious challenge to the vision of Israel as a Jewish, democratic, secure, and moral state.” The researchers also raise concern about the increasing weakness of the Palestinian Authority.
As far as Israel’s social resilience, it is threatened by the intensification of “polarization between different groups. incitement, and weak governance, particularly in uncontrolled enclaves, which compound the erosion of trust in state institutions.”
The strategy survey also mentions global problems Israel is currently facing and will continue to face in 2022, such as climate change, the Covid-19 pandemic, economic crises, and concern over the resilience of liberal democracies. Israel’s dependence on the US, especially in light of growing polarization and increasing focus on the China front rather than on the Middle East, is also discussed.
In their report, the INSS researchers present several recommendations to Israel’s leaders and policy makers, among them: preparing a comprehensive strategy to simultaneously tackle the Iran, Palestinian and internal fronts; heighten coordination with the US and extend the Abraham Accords; invest in developing science and tech; continue Israel’s military buildup.
“Today there is an emerging regional understanding that the future of the Middle East is a future of cooperation,” said Israel’s President, Isaac Herzog. “In the face of the Iranian threat and its dangerous proxies in the region, we must cooperate with our friends, not just for the sake of Israel’s citizens – but for all the inhabitants of the Middle East.”