IISS vs INSS: David vs Goliath – Part I 

By Martin Sherman

Over the last few weeks, I have tried to convey the huge imbalance in the resources available to IISS and our ideological adversaries—and have appealed for support in trying to redress this imbalance. To assist IISS in this, you can donate by clicking HERE

This month, the disparity was on stark display.

INSS: Well-heeled & influential

One of IISS’s most influential ideological rivals is INSS (the Institute for National Security Studies). Associated with, but legally independent from, Tel Aviv University (TAU), INSS is one of most affluent think-tanks in Israel. Located in an impressive multi-story building on prime real estate adjacent to, and owned by TAU, which reportedly granted it rent free for 25 years, INSS was established with a multi-million dollar endowment.

Moreover, the value of the quarter-century rent exemption alone is estimated at NIS 23 million (about $6.5 million) according to one former TAU president, who also claimed that TAU covered miscellaneous running expenses for INSS to the tune of NIS 500,000 (or about $140,000) annually.

In addition, INSS raises several million dollars a year to advance its ongoing activities.

The vast resources at its disposal afford INSS extensive reach to propagate its agenda.

INSS: Promoting post-dated capitulation

Thus, earlier this month, INSS sent a delegation to New York and Washington to present its plan for “A Strategic Framework for the Israeli-Palestinian Arena” at prestigious venues and to influential audiences.

This week, INSS held its high profile annual conference, convening prominent public figures and internationally renowned experts from around the globe, including the President of Israel, the Chief Justice, the outgoing IDF Chief-of-Staff and Police Commissioner, senior politicians and well-known pundits from prestigious think-thanks. Clearly, an event of this kind requires huge funding—orders of magnitude beyond anything at the disposal of IISS.

But for INSS, it was an effective and conspicuous platform for advancing its “Strategic Framework for the Israeli-Palestinian Arena”

Sadly, this plan is both pernicious and preposterous, comprising, in effect, a post-dated signature of capitulation to virtually all the Palestinians’ demands, if only they would morph—or temporarily feign morphing—into something they have not been in the last 100 years…and show little sign of doing so in any foreseeable future.

 

INSS: Advocating a giant South Lebanon on fringes of Greater Tel Aviv

 

INSS’s plan entails the delusional and dangerous idea that Israel should renounce all sovereign claims to any territory beyond the present security barrier, but should keep the IDF indefinitely deployed therein—until some, as yet unidentified Palestinian interlocutorsomehow appears to conclude a satisfactory peace deal.

Moreover, not only does the INSS plan propose strangling all Jewish communities beyond the security barrier, but by endorsingopen-ended IDF deployment in territory, to which Israel lays no sovereign claim, it is essentially reproducing the same untenable conditions that prevailed in South Lebanon until 2000—and will inevitably produce the same outcome: Unilateral withdrawal, under duress, without any agreement and abandonment of the territory to extremist groups.

 

To be continued…

 

For a more detailed critique of the INSS’s plan –see for example here and here.

 

Please help IISS expose the dangerous delusion INSS is attempting to advance

 

Click HERE to make your donation

 

Recent IISS activity

 

(a) The latest INTO THE FRAYcolumn:

The imperative for incentivized Arab migration & the emerging inevitability of the Humanitarian Paradigm

http://www.strategic-israel.org/4152/into-the-fray-the-imperative-for-incentivized-arab-migration-the-emerging-inevitability-of-the-humanitarian-paradigm/

(Kindly consider “liking”, sharing, tweeting – please use hash-tag ?#?IntoFray)

Gaza: Kerem Shalom crossing set ablaze by Palestinian-Arab rioters (Photo: IDF Spokesman’s Office)

Once inconceivable, the dismantling of UNRWA; the naturalization of stateless Palestinian residents in Arab countries; and the emigration of Palestinians from Judea-Samaria & Gaza are slowly emerging as realistic outcomes

  http://www.strategic-israel.org/4152/into-the-fray-the-imperative-for-incentivized-arab-migration-the-emerging-inevitability-of-the-humanitarian-paradigm/

(b) A HISTORICAL REMINDER

Ariel Sharon (1992): On the deadly dangers if Israel were to evacuate Gaza

 

(c) Recent ILTV appearances

ILTV interview – Jan 24, 2019
On Russia’s displeasure at Israeli attacks in Syria.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4lScHSM5Zc

 

ILTV debate – Fenemies (Final edition) – Jan. 24, 2019

On Qatari money fo Gaza, General in Israeli politics, tribute to Ari Fuld z”l – with Hod Krovi, Strategic advisor to Labor Party,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vfIcLwGqes&t=61s


ILTV interview– Jan 20, 2018
On the renewal of diplomatic relations with Chad

January 31, 2019 | 2 Comments »

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2 Comments / 2 Comments

  1. Notice also the considerable evidence of financial corruption and personal arrogance on the part of Gantz in the Wikipedia article. Also, the way he was only appointed chief of staff of the IDF when one of the oligarchy’s “selection committees” rejected the appointment of Gallant, a more qualified candidate, on political grounds (Gallant was not an appeaser).

  2. Gantz is a Research Fellow at the iNSS and the co-author of a report published by it recommending unilateral Israeli withdrawal from 65 per cent of Judea-Samaria, and allowing the Palestinians to establish their state there without first making peace with Israel. UNfortunately, it is looking like he will become Israel’s next Prime Minister.

    There is obviously big money behind Gantz’s campaign. Some of it may be coming from INSS or whoever is funding INSS. More information on where the money is coming from. besides TAU, would be a very helpful if Dr. Sherman could include it in his follow-up report.

    Benny Gantz
    Benjamin “Benny” Gantz (Hebrew: ?????? “???” ????; born 9 June 1959) is an Israeli politician and general, and was the 20th Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (14 February 2011 – 16 February 2015).[1][2] In December 2018, he established a new political party named Israel Resilience (Hosen LeYisrael).[3][4]

    Early life

    Gantz was born in Kfar Ahim, Israel, in 1959. His mother Malka was a Holocaust survivor, originally from Mez?kovácsháza, Hungary.[5][6] His father Nahum was from Romania, and was arrested by the British for trying to enter Palestine illegally before reaching Israel. His parents were among the founders of Kfar Ahim.[7] In his youth, he attended the Shafir High School in Merkaz Shapira and boarding school at the HaKfar HaYarok youth village in Ramat HaSharon.

    Military service

    Gantz was drafted into the IDF in 1977. He volunteered as a paratrooper in the Paratroopers Brigade. His first mission as a young conscript in 1977 was as part of the security detail for Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s visit to Israel.[8] In 1979 Gantz became an officer after completing Officer Candidate School. In 1991 he commanded the commando unit that was on the ground in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for 36 hours, securing the Operation Solomon airlift of 14,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel.[9] During his career, Gantz has served in a number of roles, including: Commander of the Shaldag Unit in the Israeli Air Force; Commander of the 35th Paratroopers Brigade;[10] Commander of the Reserves Division in the Northern Command; Commander of the Lebanon Liaison Unit; Commander of the Judea and Samaria Division in 2000, before becoming the Commander of the Israeli Northern Command in 2001; and as Israel’s military attaché in the United States from 2005 until 2009, before becoming the Deputy Chief of the General Staff.[11][12] He served in the 1978 South Lebanon conflict, 1982 Lebanon War, the 1985-2000 South Lebanon conflict, Operation Solomon, and the Second Intifada.

    Gantz has received a number of degrees during his military service. He is a graduate of the IDF Command and Headquarters College and the National Security College. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Tel Aviv University, a master’s degree in political science from the University of Haifa, and an additional Master’s Degree in National Resources Management from the National Defense University in the United States.[11]

    Chief of Staff

    Following the canceled appointment of previous nominee Aluf Yoav Galant, Defense Minister Ehud Barak announced on 5 February 2011 that he will be recommending to the government that Gantz be appointed the 20th Chief of the General Staff (after the pending approval by the Turkel Advisory Committee on Senior Appointments and a government vote).[13]

    On 13 February 2011, the Israeli government unanimously approved Gantz to be the next IDF chief of staff.[14] According to the Jerusalem Post, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated in the weekly Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem that Gantz was an “excellent officer and experienced commander, and had rich operational and logistical experience, with all the attributes needed to be a successful army commander”.[15]

    On 14 February 2011, Gantz assumed command as the Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces.[2]

    In his first year as Chief of the General Staff, Gantz appointed the IDF’s first-ever female major-general, Orna Barbivai.[16][17]

    In July 2011, Gantz appointed a special committee to address a controversy that had developed concerning mention of the word Elohim, “God”, in the military Yizkor prayer. The committee determined that a disputed passage should read Yizkor ‘Am Yisrael, “May the Nation of Israel remember”, and not Yizkor Elohim, “May God remember”. Gantz upheld the committee’s ruling.[18]

    Gantz has called on the IDF to be ready for a new ground invasion of Gaza.[19][20]

    Gantz commanded the IDF when it fought against Palestinian factions in Gaza in the campaigns Operation Pillar of Defense[21] and Operation Protective Edge.

    Controversies

    Building on public land allegations

    A report in the Israeli daily Yisrael Hayom from March 2010 charged Gantz with illegally extending the perimeter of his yard by several feet to encompass a small plot of land that had been designated public property and subsequently building on it. “The Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Major General Benny Gantz, invaded a public land area adjacent to his home in Rosh HaAyin, illegally and without a permit and a license constructed a nice and wide deck on public land next to his house’s yard, enclosed it with a pretty wooden fence – and broke the law.” The report included photos of the alleged violations. Gantz admitted to the facts, but claimed that the public land in question was not, and could not be, accessible for use by the public. Two months after town hall officials notified him of the violation, the deck was disassembled and removed.[22]

    In February 2011, following the government’s decision to promote Gantz to Chief of the General Staff, Attorney Avi’ad Vissuli of the Forum for the Land of Israel submitted a formal objection to Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein and to Judge Ya’akov Turkel, demanding that the appointment be revoked. Vissuli compared the violations attributed to Gantz to the controversial property violations of Major General Yoav Galant.[23][24]

    Death of Corporal Madhat Yusuf

    On 1 October 2000, a group of armed Palestinians attacked Joseph’s Tomb in present-day Nablus, and a Palestinian sniper shot Corporal Madhat Yusuf, a Druze IDF soldier guarding the tomb. The Palestinian Authority agreed to evacuate Yusuf to safety, but their security forces failed to arrive, and Yusuf bled to death after four hours. Yusuf’s relatives have blamed Gantz, who was Commander of the Judea and Samaria Division at that time, for what they consider to have been a preventable tragedy. The Turkel Committee charged with reviewing Gantz’s qualifications vis-à-vis his planned appointment to Chief of the General Staff, determined that Gantz “was not the most senior ranking commander at the scene, and there were operational as well as political considerations involved in the incident for which he was not responsible”.[25][26][27]

    Tech company closure

    Benny Gantz had operated The Fifth Dimension as a Chief executive, a promising computer security and law enforcement technology company. The company closed due to financial reasons after its Russian investor was sanctioned by the United States during the Special Counsel investigation into Russian attempts to interfere with the US election.[28][29]

    Political views and career

    In December 2018, Gantz announced his intention to form a new political party, but did not originally disclose his views or name of the organization.[30] Polls have demonstrated fluctuating support for the party.[31][32] On 27 December 2018, Gantz formally established his own party named the Israel Resilience Party (“Hosen LeYisrael” in Hebrew), which will run in the 2019 Israeli legislative election.[33]

    On January 29, 2019, Gantz gave his first major political speech. Gantz pledged to strengthen Israeli settlement blocs and said that Israel would never leave the Golan Heights.[34] He neither endorsed nor rejected a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “The Jordan Valley will be our border, but we won’t let millions of Palestinians living beyond the fence to endanger our identity as a Jewish state,” he said.[35]

    Gantz had previously contributed to writing a unilateral separation plan for the Institute of National Security Studies which called for the unilateral creation of a contiguous Palestinian “entity” on about 65% of the West Bank and a freeze to construction in settlements outside the major settlement blocs that Israel expects to retain in a future peace agreement with the Palestinians.[36]

    At the end of his speech, Gantz announced an electoral alliance with former minister of defense and IDF chief of staff Moshe Ya’alon.[37]

    Family and personal life

    Gantz is married to Revital and is a father of four. He lives in Rosh HaAyin.[38]

    References

    ^ a b “Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz Appointed 20th IDF Chief of the General Staff”. Israel Defense Forces. 14 February 2011. Retrieved 14 February 2011.
    ^ a b Haaretz Service (14 February 2011). “Gantz takes over as IDF chief: I am ready to face the challenges”. Haaretz. Retrieved 14 February 2011.
    Moran Azulay (27 December 2018). “Benny Gantz registers new political party”. Ynetnews.
    Wootliff, Raoul. “Surrounded by idioms: How campaign slogans get lost in English translation”. http://www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
    Israel commemorates Holocaust Remembrance Day, Haaretz 8 April 2013
    In Auschwitz, Israeli army chief vows to prevent a ‘second Holocaust’, The Times of Israel 8 April 2013
    “??? ??????? ????? ??????? ??????? ????????”. ???? 7.
    Pfeffer, Anshel (2019-01-28). “The General Coming to End the Netanyahu Era”. Haaretz. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
    Pfeffer, Anshel (2019-01-28). “The General Coming to End the Netanyahu Era”. Haaretz. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
    Avihai Becker, Generally Sensitive, Haaretz, 24 April 2002.
    ^ a b “New Deputy Chief of the General Staff Appointed” (Press release). IDF Spokesperson’s Website. 12 July 2009. Archived from the original on 9 March 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
    “IDF chief announces new appointments to General Staff” from Haaretz[permanent dead link] Google cache version
    Greenberg, Hanan (5 February 2011). “Gantz set to be named 20th IDF chief”. Ynet. Retrieved 6 July 2011.
    Ravid, Barak (13 February 2011). “Benny Gatz becomes IDF’s 20th chief of staff”. Haaretz. Retrieved 6 July 2011.
    Keinon, Herb (13 February 2011). “Gantz appointment as IDF chief sails through cabinet”. Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 6 July 2011.
    “Newly Appointed Head of the Personnel Directorate, GOC Northern Command, GOC Home Front Command”. IDF Spokesperson’s Unit. 26 March 2011. Retrieved 1 June 2011. Brig. Gen. Orna Barbivay will be promoted to the rank of Major General and appointed Head of the Personnel Directorate, replacing Maj. Gen. Avi Zamir, who will end his service in the IDF.
    “Israeli military appoints first female major general”. Monsters and Critics. Tel Aviv. Deutsche Presse-Agentur. 26 May 2011. Archived from the original on 24 June 2011. Retrieved 1 June 2011. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has promoted the first female major general in its 63-year history, a military spokesman announced Thursday night.
    Katz, Yaakov (4 August 2011). “IDF panel keeps God out of Yizkor prayer”. Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 17 August 2011. The IDF will retain the original wording of the Yizkor memorial prayer with “Yizkor Am Yisrael” (May the People of Israel Remember), and not “Yizkor Elohim” (May God Remember), a military committee tasked with ruling on the issue announced on Thursday.
    “General Gantz at the 13th Herzliya Conference: Chances of War Breaking Out are Low but Probability of Deterioration is rising”. Defense Update. 11 March 2013.
    Sherwood, Harriet (28 December 2011). “Israel ‘will launch significant Gaza offensive sooner or later'”. The Guardian.
    Yossi Arazi and Gal Perl Finkel, Integrating Technologies to Protect the Home Front against Ballistic Threats and Cruise Missiles, “Military and Strategic Affairs”, Volume 5, No. 3, December 2013.
    Navon, Eran (5 March 2010). ??? ?????? – ????? [Liberated Land – Returned]. Yisrael Hayom (in Hebrew). Retrieved 7 February 2011.
    Sharvit, Noam (7 February 2011). ????? ?????: ???? ????? ??? ??? ?????? ????? [Petition to the Attorney General: Revoke Gantz’s Appointment in Light of Building Violations] (in Hebrew). NRG (Ma’ariv). Retrieved 7 February 2011.
    Tzuk, Dana (7 February 2011). ???? ???? ?”? ??? ????? ??? [The Forum for the Land of Israel V. Major General Gantz] (in Hebrew). GLZ (Army Radio). Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 7 February 2011.
    Ravid, Barak (10 February 2011). ???? ????? ????? ?? ????? ??? ????? “????? ????????” [Turkel Committee Approves Gantz Appointment Despite Flaws in Conduct]. Haaretz (in Hebrew). Retrieved 10 February 2011.
    “Family of fallen soldier considers petition against Gantz”. Jerusalem Post. 6 February 2011. Retrieved 10 February 2011.
    “Brother of Slain Druze Soldier: Gantz Not Worthy to Run Israel | Hamodia.com”. Hamodia. 2019-01-14. Retrieved 2019-01-18.
    Hoffman, Gil. (16 December 2018). “Did Stormy Daniels cause Benny Gantz’s Cyber Company to close shop?” Jerusalem Post website Retrieved 16 December 2018.
    “Israeli Startup Headed by Ex-top Security Officials Shuts Due to Link With Sanctioned Oligarch”. Haaretz. 2018-12-17. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
    Asa-El, Amotz. (22 December 2018). “The other Benjamin-Will Israeli politics be saved by one-more general?”. Jerusalem Post website Retrieved 23 December 2018.
    Mualem, Mazal. (21 November 2018). “Former IDF head spooks Israel’s entire political spectrum”. Al-Monitor website Retrieved 23 December 2018.
    Hoffman, Gil. (25 December 2018). “Poll finds Gantz’s political party in free fall.” Jerusalem Post website Retrieved 27 December 2018.
    “Former IDF chief names new party: ‘Israel’s Resilience'”. WIN. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
    staff, T. O. I. “Breaking political silence, Gantz indicates he won’t serve under indicted PM”. http://www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
    staff, T. O. I. “Breaking political silence, Gantz indicates he won’t serve under indicted PM”. http://www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
    Gross, Judah Ari. “Proposal would split Israel from Palestinians – but don’t call it a peace plan”. http://www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
    “Gantz: Current leadership is divisive, I won’t join Netanyahu if indicted – Israel Elections – Jerusalem Post”. http://www.jpost.com. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
    “Benny Gantz, Netanyahu Rival, Gives Campaign Launch Speech – Full English Transcript”. Haaretz. 2019-01-30. Retrieved 2019-01-30.