Reuven Pedatzur

The Rubinstein Committee's report was received apathetically not only by the Knesset but also by the media. And considering its contents, it must unfortunately be said that for once, this apathy was merited. These recommendations will not bring about the changes that are so badly needed.

The fear is that terror groups that are equipped with surface-to-air missiles will endanger civil aviation throughout the world. This is why Israel should entrust the U.S. with the task of dealing with the issue of the sale of Russian missiles to Syria.

The immunity enjoyed by Khan is rooted in the dependency that the Bush administration has developed in the form of Pakistan's president, who has been an important ally in the war the Americans are waging against international terrorism.

Soldiers fighting in the territories are absolved of the need to worry about moral dilemmas. In this war, everything is permissible, and they will be backed by the high command even if it turns out that they acted contrary to basic moral norms.

A certain amount of arrogance is behind the statement that "the defense establishment is not upset over the affair and says that this is a success of the navy, which rapidly detected a foreign vessel."

The international bodies supervising the proliferation of ballistic missiles to third-world countries have gone bankrupt. From now on, only resolve and close cooperation between the United States and Europe can stop Iran and other Middle East states from acquiring missiles, whose range could reach any part of Israel. The problem is that the chances for real cooperation are quite slim.

Politicians are induced into adopting baseless technological visions and then rush to promise the worried public that an end to the latest threat is at hand. The Nautilus interception system is still not operational, 13 years after it was promised to protect Kiryat Shmona from Katyushas. Sderot residents should take heed.

Israel would make a great mistake if it tried to eliminate Iran's nuclear program by force. It would have no chance - the nuclear facilities are dispersed, and most buried deep underground.

A rocket capable of putting a satellite in a precise point in space is also capable of being used as a missile to hit a target on earth. This Israel's enemies understand full well, and Ofek-6's failure does not impair this deterrence.

It should always be remembered that Hezbollah is Israel's creation, and the daily occurences in the north are, among other things, the result of myopia on the part of Israel's senior defense officials. This is especially important these days as we recall that Hamas was also established under Israel's aegis and with its encouragement.

Those in the defense establishment and army who are responsible for development and operation of the Arrow are exploiting public ignorance, and particularly public fears, to disseminate illusions. They know very well that success in one experiment, against one missile, does not mean all the technological obstacles are out of the Arrow's way. They certainly remember the experience of the Gulf War.

Government ministers and Knesset members need to keep a sharp eye on the defense budget and not automatically approve everything the IDF demands.

ElBaradei takes a sober approach to Israel's nuclear potential. With this in mind, he clarifies that while no one doubts that Israel has nuclear weapons, 'the decision whether to make a public declaration or to maintain an air of ambiguity is that of Israel,' as he phrased it last week in Moscow.

After nearly four years of warfare, one can state with certainty that the IDF indeed succeeded in "burning into the consciousness." Not that of the Palestinians, however. Rather, of the Israeli public, which has adopted without dissent the worldview that has guided commanders of the IDF in their policy in the territories. Amos Gilad beat Amos Malka, and the State of Israel apparently lost.

About six months ago, the prime minister and defense minister were given one of the most interesting documents ever written on security. The amazing thing about the document, entitled "Israel's Strategic Future," and prepared under the auspices of the Ariel College, is that the military censor allowed it to be published.

In the absence of parliamentary supervision and control over the development activities of the IDF, the decision makers in the government and the Knesset are incapable of determining the necessity of simultaneous projects, their true cost and the manner in which the IDF is running them.

Vanunu is a strange man with strange ideas who committed a very serious crime for which he was tried and imprisoned for a lengthy period. The restrictions imposed on him and the declarations of the terrible damage he could cause are unnecessary exaggeration. Leave Vanunu alone. Don't turn him into a cultural hero.

The Bush administration's great failure, it turns out, was actually not its misleading use of intelligence assessments about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to justify going to war. Much more serious was its decision to ignore the global terrorist threats, while sticking to a defense posture based on a world view disconnected from strategic reality.

The IDF has become captive to the 'consciousness conception' that was adduced by the chief of staff, Moshe Ya'alon, which holds that we must 'sear into the Palestinians' consciousness' the idea that 'we cannot be defeated by terrorism and violence.'

In France, it took four decades after the withdrawal from Algeria before the old soldiers and men of letters began to bravely and sincerely question actions of the French army during its attempts to put down the Algerian revolt.

The black market for nuclear weapons is flourishing, and international monitoring mechanisms have failed to expose them. It was only the decision of Iran and Libya to subject their nuclear programs to external monitoring that exposed the network through which the father of Pakistan's atom bomb sold nuclear secrets.

It's possible that, just as the American intelligence organizations failed in deciphering the developments in Iraq, the Israeli intelligence community also failed when it stated that Yasser Arafat has full control over terrorist activity by the Palestinians.