Thinking Strategically About Israel's Past, Present, and Future

Recently, the Tikvah Fund hosted a special panel for graduates of the IDF’s elite 8200 intelligence unit at Bar-Ilan University in Israel. The event was co-chaired by Tikvah Director of Israel Programs Nathan Laufer and Shalem College President Martin Kramer. The panelists were Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin, Professor Uzi Arad, and Ambassador Sallai Meridor.

We present here three rounds of commentary by the panelists in response to three questions from President Kramer:

Are you concerned about trends, perceivable in Israeli society, that could weaken [Israel] internally, and even create a threat to our existence, or a potential threat to our existence at a time of crisis? Can it be said that there already exists writing on the wall that shows the end of opportunities for coping with external challenges, or is it all relative and so long as we are better united than our neighbors, is this concern out of place?

To which category does the State of Israel belong? Is it, as Herzog had predicted, a nation-state, or do we resemble more so a country of immigrants, like the United States? And this has implications regarding the meaning of internal schisms: are they really a cause of this diversity, diversity being a strengthening factor, or a source of some kind of trouble. How is it possible, when dealing with young people who have not experienced feeling backed up against a wall, how is it possible to cultivate within them that sensation of there being life challenges which make it an imperative to identify with the “other” in society, as a means of strengthening society?

At the time of the birth of the state of Israel, there were 10 American Jews for every Israel Jew. 40 Years ago the ratio was still 2:1. The ratio today is 1:1 and in a short number of years, it will be 2:1 in favor of Israel. Do we have a plan for the double decline of the United States [as it relates to the Middle East] and of American Jewry [in America]? The question for the panel is this: Is Ben-Gurion’s principle of the existential need for an alliance with the local major power still valid? And if not – because there is no such major power – how do we prepare ourselves?

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Thinking Strategically About Israel’s Past, Present, and Future

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