Reuven Pedatzur

In our sad situation, the scare tactics always work and every year the prime minister increases the defense budget by huge sums.

Avraham Ben-Zvi has been studying Israel-U.S. relations for nearly four decades, and now sums up his research in a sweeping survey. He is convinced that the current White House incumbent has changed the paradigm of those relations.

In the run-up to the second intifada, Military Intelligence officials believed Arafat wanted to keep talking and avoid fighting. New revealed papers, however, show that their boss, Amos Gilad, presented leaders with a starkly different picture: Palestinians planning an uprising to push Israel's hand.

Failures of politicians, rivalries between intelligence organizations and in-the-box thinking - all have contributed to a situation where Israel pays unreasonable prices for the return of captives.

This book of interviews with a former MI head would be important even if it included no more than one key insight.

The events of September 11, 10 years ago, altered airport security beyond recognition for passengers and flight crew alike - at the expense of common sense.

UN negotiator Gunnar Jarring failed to produce an Arab-Israeli agreement after the Six-Day War, but was the first to plant the idea of peace in the minds of Arab statesmen. A new study explores his diplomatic work.

We chose to fly to Paris, knowing the volcanic cloud was approaching and suspecting the airport would be shuttered as soon as we landed. The diary of a grounded pilot.

In his new book, Maj. Gen. Elazar Stern comes across as an officer incapable of breaking free of the paradigms of the religious Zionism in which he was reared - and which, to his great dismay, no longer exist.

Ronen Bergman places a mirror in front of the Israeli reader and the image reflected back is not flattering. Sleman al-Shafhe describes the effect of the Gilad Shalit affair on the more than one million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip.

A collection of scholarly articles discusses how the culture of security has taken over all branches of government in Israel.

For 20 years, the IDF deducted a sum from the salaries of all soldiers in compulsory service, to be paid out as insurance in the case of death in the line of duty. Though none of the money was apparently paid out, the defense establishment doesn't seem to know where it is

Rocket would hit Sderot before launch of intercepting missile; gov't invested millions of dollars in project.

Rocket would hit Sderot before launch of intercepting missile; gov't invested millions of dollars in project.

Following in the footsteps of U.S. neocons, some Israeli policymakers seem to think the country could survive an Iranian nuclear attack. But what would really happen if a 20-kiloton bomb was dropped on Jaffa Port?

Iraq resembles Yugoslavia of the 1990s. Will the dismantling of Iraq also lead to civil war? Not necessarily. But if Bush decides to deploy more troops, the situation will surely worsen.

Israel is closely following U.S. activity regarding Syria after the regime there crossed a red line. If the U.S. fails to act, it will be hard for Israel to believe that it will follow through on its commitment to thwart Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

In Ya’alon’s view, we don’t understand the only way to deal with the Palestinians is to hit them again and again, to strengthen Israel’s deterrence and 'sear their consciousness.’

While IDF figures put the Iron Dome missile defense system's success rate at 84 percent, three scientists claim the real figure could be much lower than that.

The IDF is too big and too well equipped with expensive weapons that were developed to counter threats that are no longer relevant.

Iron Dome cannot protect Sderot and the communities around the Gaza Strip. Everyone should know it, not only the nine people sitting in a Kiryat Gat courtroom.

The greatest challenge facing the next defense minister: to divert Netanyahu from the path that leads to an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear installations.

The framework defining the relations between the commander of the army and the government, prime minister and defense minister, is unclear and subject to interpretation.

Just as at Lake Success the State of Israel was founded 65 years ago, so at the UN building in New York the Palestinian state was founded two weeks ago.

Now that the explosions have stopped, we are obligated to delve into the truth behind Operation Pillar of Defense.

Yes, we should be pleased; we should also be proud and grateful. The crowing, however, is a little exaggerated.

The time has come to stop being afraid and demand that the Skyguard laser system and the Vulcan Phalanx artillery system be flown to Israel immediately and positioned alongside the communities in southern Israel.

The IDF has still not found a solution to the rockets being fired from Gaza into southern Israel - around 1,000 in this year alone.

What ought to be most worrisome about the UAV affair is the depiction of this failure as a success - the IDF and the air force are being praised for a superb performance, though no one is investigating or asking questions.

In Jerusalem, as always, any mention of Israeli nuclear weapons produces a Pavlovian response. No, no, no - there's nothing to talk about and nobody to talk to.

Common sense dictates that a sizable chunk of the billions needed to guard the off-shore drilling rigs should come from the enormous profits reaped by the companies producing the gas. But it's almost certain that this will not happen.

Barak's work is done. Now he can say to the treasury officials that if two committees of experts conclude that the defense budget has to get even bigger, who are they to say no?

In his comments these days, Netanyahu is undermining the chance of crafting a credible deterrent policy against a future nuclear Iran.

A prime minister who launches a vicious attack aimed at delegitimizing senior security officials who are not willing to change their tune and adapt their professional views to his position is a dangerous prime minister.

The IDF assumed the Syrians would not make 'first use' of chemical weapons but would respond with them if Israel attacked Syrian territory with weapons of mass destruction. All that has changed.

Politicians are eager to do battle, senior army officers try to calm things down.

Like my fellow military correspondents and analysts, I too have sinned and violated clause 112 of the law.

The battle between the defense minister Barak and former IDF chief of staff Ashkenazi, is no longer about prestige and credibility. It is for nothing less than Israeli democracy.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak continues to drop hints and wink when he speaks about mysterious explosions in Iran.

The National Security Staff Law, would do wonders to improve the way the government makes policy.

Israel's policy makers now face a complicated dilemma regarding Iran's nuclear program: Should they work on the assumption that mutual deterrence of the Cold War variety is applicable to the Iranian situation?