At 70, Israel sits atop a volcano

IDF soldiers train in cyber warfare

Ben Caspit, in Al Monitor, writes, “Israel celebrates the 70th anniversary of its existence April 19, and it is not a cliche to say that circumstances have never been better for the Jewish state. “The state of Israel’s strategic balance sheet is the best it’s been since the establishment of the country,” said Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot in a conversation with Al-Monitor a few weeks ago.”

“Eizenkot explained his perspective: “We have a strong, powerful army with a great advantage over our enemies. I do not detect nowadays that any of our enemies wants to carry out a direct assault on the State of Israel. … The campaign [between wars] is very intensive and communicates the superiority of our army. In the Middle East, [we enjoy advantage through] intelligence superiority, aerial superiority, operational superiority and informational superiority and by the fact that we are viewed as a very powerful state that can act with high precision. The IDF works around the clock in order to promote our security interests and prevent our enemies from achieving advanced capabilities. The fact that Israeli citizens have been enjoying peaceful lives throughout the recent years testifies to the success of our method.

“Yet despite this,…Iran demonstrated its operational capacities within the state of Israel.” It was an earth-shaking moment for Israel and led to a chain of events that threatens to set the region on fire. This is an example of the Israeli paradox.” (read more)