All small

MARC ISRAEL SELLEM
Palestinians since the beginning of the 20th
century. That said, Ya’alon acknowledges
that the status quo may ultimately lead to
a bi-national state, a conclusion he rejects
out of hand. Instead, Ya’alon vouches for
incremental progress that begins from the
bottom up. In other words, improving Palestinian
infrastructure and their quality of
life must be a priority.
He also advocates for the Taylor Force
Act, a US Senate bill threatening to halt all
aid to the Palestinian Authority until it stops
funding terror. But while, so far, Israel has
succeed in thwarting Palestinian attacks,
its ability to extinguish a more existential
threat such as the Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions movement, remains to be seen.
“The good news about BDS and the
delegitimization campaign against Israel is
that our enemies have lost hope to eliminate
the State of Israel by military force.
So they moved to the international arena,
to use propaganda to manipulate naive
liberals and antisemites,” he says. It is the
combination of those two groups of people
that can’t be ignored. As such, Ya’alon
advocates for educating young generations
around the world about Israel so they are
not susceptible to manipulation. Ya’alon
practices what he preaches at INSS, especially
when he speaks to young security
experts about the region.
For example, he lectures at the think
tank’s annual international summer program,
which brings students from all over
the world earning their master's degree to
spend an intense three weeks in Israel. “I
tell them to be open-minded, to be curious,”
he says. “Don’t be stuck with old concepts.
And even as youngsters, they have their
own concepts - it’s not a tabula rasa.”
While Ya’alon has yet to reveal his future
Ya’alon: The current instability in the
Middle is generated by three Islamic
movements claiming for hegemony and
influence in the region and beyond
plans regarding a grand return to the political
arena, for now he is pleased with the work
he’s doing at the INSS. “The Institute is in
a unique position to offer expertise from a
wide variety of fields, and when we discuss
issues we have all the experts in the room.
I believe this is the best think tank in Israel.
Our papers are well accepted. In many
discussions we bring in officials from the
military and political arena to contribute and
I know our papers are read by high-ranking
officials – I know because I read them myself
when I was defense minister. I believe
it’s valuable to the Israeli strategic decision
making process,” he says.
THE JERUSALEM REPORT FEBRUARY 5, 2018 19