Over the past few years one of the greatest security threats to the State of Israel has been the civilianization of the IDF and military thinking. This process did not begin with the appointment of Defense Minister Amir Peretz in 2006, but dates to the early 1990s. In that decade the misplaced euphoria of Oslo led many to believe that universal regular military service as well as frequent reserve duty would be something of the past. After all the Palestinians would soon be Israel’s friends, if not allies, and if there arose a military challenge the air force, the standing army and commandos would handle everything. On the level of continued participation and integration within Israeli society the army was to be marginalized. Calls for a reorganization of the IDF as an all volunteer force (AVF) grew as it came to be believed that professionals would be the backbone of the IDF; reserve manpower was to be gradually eliminated in its entirety.
Mideast: On Target
Civilianization of the IDF
Over the past few years one of the greatest security threats to the State of Israel has been the civilianization of the IDF and military thinking. This process did not begin with the appointment of Defense Minister Amir Peretz in 2006, but dates to the early 1990s. In that decade the misplaced euphoria of Oslo led many to believe that universal regular military service as well as frequent reserve duty would be something of the past. After all the Palestinians would soon be Israel’s friends, if not allies, and if there arose a military challenge the air force, the standing army and commandos would handle everything. On the level of continued participation and integration within Israeli society the army was to be marginalized. Calls for a reorganization of the IDF as an all volunteer force (AVF) grew as it came to be believed that professionals would be the backbone of the IDF; reserve manpower was to be gradually eliminated in its entirety.
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have left
Israeli and American diplomatic policy in tatters. Surprised by the
sudden collapse of Abu Mazen’s Fatah, the rush is now on to shore up
what little is left of the PA in the West Bank to prevent another Hamas
victory. Money and arms will now flow in rivers to the “moderate” Abu
Mazen and the newly whitewashed terrorists of Fatah in the vain hope of
turning the tide against the Islamic terrorists of Hamas. 
A corrupt, brutal regime is driven out of part of the area it controls
by an anti-Western, ideological, violent opponent. The population,
exploited and brutalized by both, prefers the ideological to the
corrupt, and votes accordingly. In an attempt to regain power, the
corrupt regime declares its “moderation” and its commitment to Western
democratic values, while continuing its path of brutality and
exploitation of the population. The West, correctly fearing the
consequences of the victory of the anti-West group, backs the corrupt
regime, as the lesser of two evils, despite the fact that the
population has long withdrawn support from the corrupt leadership. The
result: nearly 60,000 Americans killed in Southeast Asia between 1964
and 1973. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Vietnam.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?“Who watches the watchmen?” asked the
Roman poet Juvenal, paraphrasing a central problem discussed by Plato
in The Republic.
