Senior security researcher: 2015 the last stable year for Israel

Jihadist groups in the region and the global movement for the campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel are the main “strategic threats” facing Israel in 2015, a senior Israeli research centre has said.

Retired Israeli General Amos Yadlin, the head of Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), and Kermit Valencia said in a paper that the repercussions of the situation in Syria could be disastrous for Israel.

The reason, they expected, was weakness of the Syrian army which lost control of most of the areas near Israel, leaving jihadists who are able to target Israel at any time.

According to the paper, the danger of such groups comes from their fighting techniques as they are able to target the internal front of the state with rockets and tunnels. The paper listed 2015 as the last stable year for Israel.

Strategic danger from the states around Israel, the paper said, has recently shrunk because of the dissolution of a number of important Arabic armies such as the Syrian and Iraqi armies.

Meanwhile, the increasing strategic danger of BDS and the outcomes of its activities which are pushing towards the illegality of Israel around the world might cause economic harms to Israel.

The most dangerous activity of BDS is the change it makes in the collective global awareness about Israel, mainly in the west. It introduces Israel as a racist state based on force and oppression to impose its policies, the paper explained.

According to the paper, BDS’s danger comes as it is widespread in the United States and there is increasing cooperation among academics and educated people with it.

The seven years between 2007 and 2015 were “good” for Israel, the paper claimed, as it lived security stability and it could maintain its strategic “superiority” without waging major wars and the security demands had no economic costs.

During these seven years, Israel promoted its military abilities and improved deterrence against hostile states. Meanwhile, the Arab states, which have peace agreements with Israel, remained committed to the agreements despite increasing hostility among their citizens towards Israel.

The paper stressed that there is a sources of concern for Israel regarding the instability in Egypt and Jordan; however, security cooperation with both of these countries has increased.