From Peace to Armageddon
When I first traveled to Israel-Palestine in 1994, during the heady early days of the Oslo peace process, I was expecting to see more of the joyful celebrations I’d watched on television at home. The emotional welcoming of Palestinian Liberation Organization chairman Yasser Arafat back to Palestine. The massive... Read more
Israel Has an Air-Launched Ballistic Missile
Two Israeli companies together have tested a new, supersonic air-launched ballistic missile with a conventional warhead that could allow fighters to strike heavily-defended targets at long range. But the new Rampage ALBM isn’t without its drawbacks. The weapon is bulky. Its warhead is probably small compared to other missile... Read more
Why Is Israel Simulating Attacks on Its Own Nuclear Reactors?
Israel’s nuclear establishment has been conducting drills simulating attacks against the country’s two nuclear reactors. “The Israel Atomic Energy Commission has been taking numerous steps to protect the nuclear reactors in Dimona and Nahal Sorek in light of assessments that Iran and Hezbollah see the reactors as preferred targets... Read more
Israel Has a Killer New Torpedo
Submarines and torpedoes are among the most closely-guarded and sensitive topics among navies. True to type, a recent announcement by the Israeli navy about the adoption of a new torpedo came with few details. But it appears to be an interesting torpedo — more advanced, with state-of-the-art technology. The... Read more
La Honda y el Escudo de David
Fue un ciudadano británico el que al principio modelaría como nadie la forma de hacer la guerra de Israel. En la década de 1930, cuando la tensión entre el pueblo árabe y la comunidad judío-sionista se convirtió en una guerra civil en toda regla en Palestina ─que había estado... Read more
In 1948, Israel Survived Assault by Five Arab States
May 14, 1948, was a Friday and time was running out. David Ben-Gurion was determined to declare the state of Israel on the same day the British mandate over Palestine expired. However, he had to do it before Shabbath was about to begin. It was 4:00 P.M. sharp when... Read more
David’s Sling and Shield
It was a British citizen who would shape Israel’s way of warfare like no one else would in the beginning. In the 1930s, when the tension between Arabs and the Jewish-Zionist community emerged to a downright civil war in Palestine, which had been under British administration since World War... Read more
In 1967, the Israelis Eavesdropped on Arab Armies’ Phone Calls
On June 5, 1967 during the war between Israel and its Arab neighbors, Egyptian air force bomber pilot Hosni Mubarak — the future president of Egypt — called Cairo to report that his formation of Tu-16 bombers had landed at Aswan airfield. Forty-five minutes later, an Israeli air strike... Read more
No, Iranian Submarines Don’t Pose a Major Threat in the Mediterranean
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has once again slammed Iran’s presence in Syria, this time claiming that Tehran has a plan to base aircraft in the country, dock its submarines on Syria’s Mediterranean coast and directly threaten Israeli waters. “They want to bring their air force there, right next... Read more
No, the Israeli Air Force Won’t Race to Iraqi Kurdistan’s Rescue
Here in Iraq’s Kurdish autonomous region, a friend recently overheard some of his countrymen discussing the prospect of an independent Iraqi Kurdistan coming under attack from Baghdad or its neighbors. They dismissed this prospect out of hand, very matter-of-factly, by insisting that the Israeli Air Force would come to... Read more

Paul Iddon

Contributing writer