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Below are the ten most widely read articles published by the BESA Center in 2018. The selections reflect strong reader interest in Iran, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Israeli national defense – as well as in the possibility of an end to global energy scarcity.
- What Might an Israel-Iran War Look Like? — Prof. Hillel Frisch argues that in the not unlikely event of an Iranian-Israeli war triggered by Tehran’s military entrenchment in Syria, Israel has one advantage Iran doesn’t: a public that is firmly behind its democratically elected government.
- How the IDF Is Preparing for Multi-Front War — While none of Israel’s enemies seems interested in a full-scale war in the near future, Yaakov Lappin believes Israel’s ability to operate effectively on multiple battle fronts simultaneously will be crucial for its military success, as unpredictable, explosive events can begin on one front but quickly spread to others.
- Iran’s New Anti-Israel “Resistance Axis”— Dr. Doron Itzchakov claims that the growing Iranian aggressiveness in Syria reflects a shift in Tehran’s strategic approach from covert intervention by proxy to direct pursuit of an anti-Israeli “resistance axis,” emanating from the theocratic regime’s growing confidence in its ability to export its Islamist revolution.
- With Iran on Its Doorstep, Israel Quietly Readies Game-Changing Air Power — Should Tehran ignore Jerusalem’s warnings to cease its military entrenchment in Syria, argues Yaakov Lappin, the Israeli air force has formidable capabilities that are likely to prove decisive to the outcome of any military confrontation there.
- Palestinian Settler-Colonialism— Dr. Alex Joffe argues that the pejorative of “settler-colonialism” should be applied to the Palestinians rather than to Israelis. For while the millenarian Jewish connection to Palestine can be proven with ease, the Muslim conquest of Byzantine Palestine in the 7th century CE is a textbook example of settler-colonialism. So are subsequent Arab migration waves, particularly during the 19th and 20th centuries under the Ottoman and British Empires. The application of the concept to Jews and Zionism by Palestinians is both ironic and unhelpful.
- Trump Should Aid Czech President Zeman in Fighting the “Munich Attitude”— Dr. Jiri and Leni Valenta question the prudence of the White House’s aloofness towards Czech President Zeman despite his adamant rejection of Europe’s “Munich attitude” of appeasement, staunch support for Israel, and indefatigable fight against militant Islam.
- The Farhoud Remembered — Dr. Edy Cohen laments the fact that seventy-seven years after the mass massacre of the Baghdad Jews, in which the then-leader of the Palestinian Arabs, Hajj Amin Husseini, was deeply involved, his heirs to the Palestinian leadership still sustain an anti-Israel and anti-Jewish campaign of racial and political incitement unparalleled in scope and intensity since Nazi Germany.
- The Ebbing of Warfare in Syria Will Spell Catastrophe for Europe — Dr. Mordechai Kedar warns that the Iranian regime is increasingly using Syria, over which it has come to exert massive control, as a new front in its struggle against the West by banishing additional millions of wretched Syrians to the lands of heresy, the nemeses of the ayatollahs.
- Lockheed Martin’s Compact Fusion Reactor — Should the hopes pinned on Lockheed Martin’s new revolutionary design of a Compact Fusion Reactor (CFR) be realized, argues Dr. Raphael Ofek, the fear of global energy scarcity will become a thing of the past, and mankind will have the benefit of an environment unsullied by energy pollution.
- Russia and the Israeli-Syrian-Iranian Confrontation — Emil Avdaliani argues that Moscow’s mild reaction to Israel’s February 28 multiple airstrikes on Syrian-Iranian targets, in response to the downing of an Israeli F-16, reflects its desire to maintain cooperation with both Tehran and Jerusalem.
