Israel’s National Security Strategy Following the Elections

Charles Freilich, Adjunct Associate Professor of Political Science, Columbia University; Senior Fellow, Harvard Belfer Center; Former Israeli Deputy National Security Advisor

Moderated by Peter Clement, Interim Director and Senior Research Scholar, Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies

(This event is in-person for CUID holders only. A livestream is available for non-CUID holders.)

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Abstract

Israel is today an established, prosperous and fundamentally secure state, but continues to face severe threats from rockets, missiles and cyber, even an existential danger posed by Iran’s nuclear program. Moreover, Israel’s new hardline government may lead to a crisis in relations with the US and Abraham Accords states and exacerbate the growing processes of international delegitimization. A conflict with Hamas, Palestinians in the West Bank and potential escalation to include Hezbollah are soon likely. Chuck Freilich, a former deputy national security adviser in Israel, now an adjunct professor at Columbia and Tel Aviv Universities, will present an authoritative analysis of Israel’s national security strategy, based on his award winning book: Israeli National Security: a New Strategy for an
Era of Change, Oxford Press, 2018, the most comprehensive study
to date in this field.

About the Author

Professor Charles Freilich, a former deputy national security adviser in Israel and long-time senior fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center, teaches political science at Columbia, NYU and Tel Aviv Universities. He is the author of Zion’s Dilemmas: How Israel Makes National Security Policy (Cornell Press 2012); Israeli National Security: A New Strategy for an Era of Change (Oxford Press 2018); and Israel and the Cyber Threat: How the Startup Nation Became a Global Cyber Power (forthcoming 2023). He has published numerous academic articles and over 200 op-eds, and appears frequently on US, Israeli and international TV and radio stations. He is the senior editor of the Israel Journal for Foreign Affairs. For further details see www.chuckfreilich.com.