By
– February 7, 2012
Israel is at the forefront of the international war against terror. The Jewish state’s prowess in this on-going battle is well known. In A High Price, Daniel Byman, professor at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and senior fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, traces the history of Israeli counterterrorism — the spectacular successes, the dismal failures, and the watershed events in Israel’s struggle to defend herself against terrorists.
Byman’s main critique of the Israeli counterterrorism establishment is that it has no long-range plan, no real understanding of the future. He suggests that because the Israelis deal only with immediate threats, they are inured to damage and repercussions. The damage, he is convinced, not only has negative effects on Israeli politics and culture; the defense department also suffers and a fertile environment is created for the furtherance of hatred.
Byman’s main critique of the Israeli counterterrorism establishment is that it has no long-range plan, no real understanding of the future. He suggests that because the Israelis deal only with immediate threats, they are inured to damage and repercussions. The damage, he is convinced, not only has negative effects on Israeli politics and culture; the defense department also suffers and a fertile environment is created for the furtherance of hatred.
Byman conducted hundreds of interviews for this insightful book, including many with people who were involved in the decisions and operational activities in Israel’s war against terror. Most of the interviewees were brutally honest in their evaluations of the events in which they were involved. This book is not only an interesting read, it is an important read.
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Micah D. Halpern is a columnist and a social and political commentator. He is the author of What You Need To Know About: Terror, and maintains The Micah Report at www.micahhalpern.com.
