Publication

The presentations compiled here examine what can be learned from the Second Lebanon War, with emphasis on military-strategic contexts and dialogue between the military and the political echelon. The war revealed more than a few failures in terms of the IDF’s preparedness to deal with a widespread confrontation against an undercurrent threat. These failures stemmed not only from the lack of appropriate resources to enable the construction of a proper force – though these were indeed lacking – but also, and perhaps primarily, from the lack of inherent understanding of and coming to terms with what it means to face a different threat. The IDF was not the only element surprised. The country’s citizens discovered that the civilian front is an active, integral part of the battlefield.