Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA)

Strategic Alliances for a Secure, Connected, and Prosperous Region

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The Iraq Study Group: Implications for Israel

December 8, 2006 | Amb. Dore Gold

Israel should not try to second-guess U.S. decisions about putting American soldiers in harm’s way. However, the specific strategy that the Baker-Hamilton report proposes for facilitating an American pullback in Iraq – the use of an international support group including Iran and Syria – poses serious problems that affect vital Israeli interests.

Wartime Witch Hunt: Blaming Israel for the Iraq War

June 3, 2004 | Amb. Dore Gold

An insidious but steady drumbeat can be discerned over the last several weeks charging that the primary interest of the Bush administration in going to war against Saddam Hussein was to defend Israeli security interests. This newest wave is often more subtle but also far more mainstream than what was voiced in this regard just last year. Yet from Israel's perspective, by 2003 the Iraqi Army had been severely degraded in both military manpower and equipment.

Maintaining Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge: Dilemmas for the Bush Administration

December 16, 2001

Three times in recent decades the United States has approached Arab countries to join broad coalitions in support of military objectives: ousting the Soviet Union from Afghanistan in the 1980s, ousting Iraq from Kuwait in 1991, and the current war on terrorism. In each case, efforts to garner Arab support created tensions with the U.S. commitment to maintain Israel's "qualitative military edge" against all potential adversaries. Proposed sales in 2001 of AGM-84 Harpoon "Block II" missiles and MLRS rocket systems to Egypt indicate that once again there is a danger that a fundamental strategic principle may be sacrificed for ephemeral diplomatic gains.