The IDC

“THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT EXTREMISTS
REMAIN A MINORITY; THE PROBLEM IS THAT
ONE NEEDS ONLY ONE OR TWO PEOPLE TO
CARRY OUT A TERRORIST ATTACK”
- Yehudit Barsky, director of the American Jewish Committee’s Division of
Middle east and International Terrorism
REGIONAL CROSS-CURRENTS
Amos Gilead, former head of the National Security Council, began with
offering encouraging news: Deterrence is working, he claimed, based on
the message that Israel is willing to destroy the perpetrators. Stability, he
said, is more important in this region than democracy, and Arab states
share our concern regarding terror. Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Moshe Yaalon, deputy
prime minister and minister of Strategic Affairs, on the other hand, pointed
to the futility of any kind of concessions and accommodation to terror
groups and their appeasers.
US Ambassador to Israel, James Cunningham
Speaking on the topic of “National Security Prisons
as a Mechanism for Countering Terrorism” is Maj.
Gen. Dov Lutzky, deputy commissioner and head of
operations in the Israel Prison Service; while other
members of the panel listen on
Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Eitan Ben Eliyahu, former commander of the Israel Air
Force (IAF), provided historical context. The first four decades since Israel’s
independence saw a confrontation every decade. The wars of 1948, 1956,
1967, 1973 and 1982 were characteristically similar and their locations
were predictable – the Golan, West Bank or Sinai, the balance of power
of both sides known in advance. In the 1980’s two things happened – the
development of new equipment, such as ballistic missiles and the rise of
terrorism to a scale that transformed it into a strategic parameter. In the
late 1980’s, terror organizations grew to become almost like state entities.
Today, terrorism presents much more than a regional threat, he added,
noting 9/11 and the events in London and Madrid.
Prof. Hillel Frisch, senior research fellow of the BESA Center, Bar-Ilan
University, noted that Hamas has achieved total territorial control over
Gaza and a near monopoly of control over a million people. To date,
62 < IDC Winter 2010
Dr. Uzi Landau, minister of National
Infrastructure, Israel
Dr. Boaz Ganor, founder and executive director
of ICT and deputy dean of IDC’s Lauder School of
Government, Diplomacy & Strategy
analysis shows that there is no significant improvement in the capabilities
of Palestinian terrorists in either Hamas or other organizations; the bad
news is that while Israel has the way in terms of military capacity, Hamas
has the will, with no sign of it ebbing.
A session on the legal perspective of fighting terror discussed challenges
of terrorism prosecution in the post-Bush era and the Sisyphic legal preemptive
measures which form some of our most effective preventative
measure. Prior to 9/11, terrorism was considered a domestic matter in
most countries, according to Adv. Dvora Chen, former director of the
Department of Security Matters, State Attorney’s Office, Ministry of
Justice. Since then, we have learned many lessons. One, according to Col.
Adv. Daniel Reisner, former head of the International Law Branch, IDF
Legal Division, is that when bad things happen, one’s immediate reaction
might not be the one you will like ten years down the line. He therefore
recommended that we not judge decisions made after a terrorist attack too
harshly. “In our world, where non state entities are a threat, we need to have
the legal tools to fight them while maintaining human rights. All countries
Bob Small, member of the Israel Friends of IDC
Superintendent Alan King, Metropolitan Police
Services, Central Operations, London, U.K.
are grappling with this issue. If no one is sure of the right balance, you
shouldn’t criticize other countries.”
“IN OUR WORLD, WHERE NON STATE ENTITIES
ARE A THREAT, WE NEED TO HAVE THE LEGAL
TOOLS TO FIGHT THEM WHILE MAINTAINING
HUMAN RIGHTS. ALL COUNTRIES ARE
GRAPPLING WITH THIS ISSUE. IF NO ONE IS
SURE OF THE RIGHT BALANCE, HOW CAN ONE
COUNTRY CRITICIZE ANOTHER?” - Col. Adv. Daniel
Reisner, former head of the International Law Branch, IDF Legal Division