Efraim Inbar: 'Israel doesn't use enough force'

Bullying isn't always a bad thing, Efraim Inbar says. In a tough neighborhood like the Middle East, sometimes it's necessary.President of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security and head of Shalem College's program on Strategy, Diplomacy, and National Security, he speaks as a veteran Israeli political scientist and national security. In his view, Israel must be tough to stay alive--and it hasn't been tough enough.Efraim authored five books on Israeli national security and politics, and edited 14 collections of scholarly articles, and as such, he is considered an expert on Israeli strategic doctrine, public opinion on national security issues, American policy in the Middle East, Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy, and Israel-Turkey relations.

Now, he sits down with us to answer 18 questions on Israel, including the Iranian threat, Gaza's future, and why Israel needs to act even stronger.This interview was held on August 6.

Here are our 18 questions:

• As an Israeli, and as a Jew, how are you feeling at this moment in Israeli history?
• What has been Israel's greatest success and greatest mistake in its war against Hamas?
• How do you think Hamas views the outcome and aftermath of October 7--was it a success, in their eyes? 
• What do you look for in deciding which Knesset party to vote for?
• Which is more important for Israel: Judaism or democracy?
• What role should the Israeli government have in religious matters?
• Should Israel treat its Jewish and non-Jewish citizens the same?
• Now that Israel already exists, what is the purpose of Zionism?
• Is opposing Zionism inherently antisemitic? Is the IDF the world's most moral army?
• If you were making the case for Israel, where would you begin?
• Can questioning the actions of Israel's government and army -- even in the context of this war -- be a valid form of love and patriotism?
• What do you think is the most legitimate criticism leveled against Israel today?
• Do you think peace between Israelis and Palestinians will happen within your lifetime?
• What should happen with Gaza and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict after the war?
• Do you think Israel is properly handling the Iranian threat?
• Where do you identify on Israel's political and religious spectrum, and do you have friends on the "other side"?
• Do you have more hope or fear for Israel and the Jewish People?

Efraim Inbar: 'Israel doesn't use enough force' | 18forty |

Sharon and Netanyahu declared Palestinians are terrorists just as evil as Al Qaeda and should be included in America’s war on terror.

Mossad agents were dancing on New Jersey side watching the towers burning on 9/11 …

In the Wake of 9/11, Israel Put Iran into the ‘Axis of Evil’ | Mondoweiss - 11 Sept 2010 |

On September 11, 2001, after two terrorist attacks occurred on U.S. soil, Israeli political figures anticipated that the Americans finally be able to empathize with Israel’s vulnerability to terror. In the hours immediately following the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Israeli leaders envisioned a massive U.S. retaliation in which Israel was uniquely equipped to be a partner, even a mentor, of the U.S.

“The fight against terror is an international struggle of the free world against the forces of darkness who seek to destroy our liberty and our way of life,” then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared in a televised statement just after midnight on September 12. “I believe that together we can defeat these forces of evil.”

A DAY OF TERROR: THE ISRAELIS; Spilled Blood Is Seen as Bond That Draws Two Nations Closer | NY Times - 12 Sept 2001 |

Israeli leaders, who have chafed at occasional American criticism of their measures against Palestinians, said the day's attacks would awaken the United States to the threat of global terrorism.

Asked tonight what the attack meant for relations between the United States and Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, the former prime minister, replied, “It's very good.” Then he edited himself: “Well, not very good, but it will generate immediate sympathy.'' He predicted that the attack would ''strengthen the bond between our two peoples, because we've experienced terror over so many decades, but the United States has now experienced a massive hemorrhaging of terror.”

In an appearance late tonight, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon repeatedly placed Israel on the same ground as the United States, calling the assault an attack on “our common values” and declaring, “I believe together we can defeat these forces of evil.” He declared Wednesday a day of mourning.

View from north crane at the top of One WTC. pic.twitter.com/IvdT6xxo

— World Trade Center (@_WTCOfficial) December 4, 2012

Netanyahu to Obama: No Palestinian Peace Till Iran Dumps Nukes | Tikun Olam - 22 Apr 2009 |

Now, he’s cooked up one helluva bizarre scenario: he’s telling the Obama administration that Israel can’t possibly engage the Palestinian issue till the U.S. first solves the problem of Iranian nukes.  Don’t ask why or how those two issues are so inextricably related that you can’t do one without first doing the other.  In the Washington Post, Danny Ayalon is quoted making this far-fetched linkage:

“If we want to have a real political process with the Palestinians, then you can’t have the Iranians undermining and sabotaging.”

Um, yeah right.  You couldn’t possibly have Israel negotiating for the creation of a Palestinian state because the Iranians will—what will they do? 

Once again, we have a formulation that will be decisively rejected by Obama.  He has signaled precisely the opposite, that Palestinian statehood is NOT open-ended.  But rather it is an issue that must be resolved and with all due speed.

This brings up an important issue: why has Bibi latched onto Iran as the bogeyman of choice?  Recently, Phil Weiss noted this important passage from Trita Parsi’s book on this question:

…Efraim Inbar, an Israeli at the conservative Begin-Sadat Center in Jerusalem…told Parsi…

“There was a feeling in Israel that because of the end of the Cold War, relations with the U.S. were cooling and we needed some new glue for the alliance… And the new glue… was radical Islam. And Iran was radical Islam.”

In other words, Iran serves for the Israeli political and military establishment precisely the same role as the Soviet Union played for U.S. cold warriors.  If Iran didn’t exist, Israeli pols would have to create it or a suitable replacement. 

Israel Puts Iran Issue Ahead of Palestinians | WaPo - 22 April 2009 |

While Israeli officials have long expressed concern about Iran, Netanyahu views the threat from Tehran as so acute that he is shaping Israel's policy toward the Palestinians around that issue -- a shift in approach that effectively puts Palestinian statehood after resolution of a complicated regional and international issue.

Netanyahu has compared Iran's regional ambitions to Germany’s in 1936 and has assembled a government that shares his view. Netanyahu's national security adviser, Uzi Arad, has publicly urged the United States to take stronger action against the Islamic state and has equated diplomatic engagement with Iran to "appeasement."

Obama and Netanyahu are expected to meet in Washington next month. In the intervening weeks, the Israeli prime minister, who took office late last month, is developing his proposals for how to proceed and appears to be bracing for a tough discussion with the president.

"Netanyahu is expecting that when he says, 'Iran, Iran, Iran,' Obama will say, 'Palestine, Palestine, Palestine' back," said Martin Indyk, director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution and a former peace negotiator who keeps in close contact with U.S. and Israeli officials.

"Netanyahu expects Obama to say that in order to be effective with Iran, we need to manage the Palestinian track as well."

With the Palestinian leadership split between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and Netanyahu's right-leaning coalition generally opposed to negotiating a peace deal that would result in a Palestinian state, the Israeli government is expected to offer few, if any, concessions to the Palestinians. Meanwhile, Netanyahu's aides argue, Iran poses a much more immediate threat.

Hamas-Hezbollah-Iran are axis of terror and must be destroyed for Israel to survive.

32nd straight Saturday night of anti-government protests in Israel (into its 8th month, remarkable). Numbers at main rally in Tel Aviv down, to be expected in mid-August, but still massive. Dozens of other locales across country. Photo by @tomerappelbaum pic.twitter.com/M0hiQlE1By

— Neri Zilber (@NeriZilber) August 12, 2023

We will restore security to both the south and the north. Nobody will stop us – not The Hague, not the axis of evil and not anybody else.

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) January 13, 2024

Netanyahu’s Other War | The Atlantic |

Conflict in Gaza hasn’t put an end to Israel’s constitutional crisis

Warrants don’t always result in arrests but they still matter.