"The Israeli Power Paradox"

Meir Elran is a senior research fellow and head of the Homeland Security Program and a co-head of the Society-Military Program at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv. Brig. Gen. (ret.) Elran served in the Israel Defense Forces as a career officer for 24 years in senior command and staff positions, primarily in the Military Intelligence Directorate. His last post was deputy director of Military Intelligence (1987-1989).

 

Elran took an active role in the peace talks with Egypt and was an active member (as a reserve officer) of the military delegation to the peace talks with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Following his retirement for the military Elran served as the chief of staff of the Tel Aviv municipality and afterwards as a senior consultant for strategic planning for several government offices, including the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Internal Security, and National Security Council.

 

Elran's main areas of academic research are homeland security, disaster management, and societal resilience in face of protracted terror. He is also engaged in research about the nexus between domestic social issues in Israel and its defense doctrine and practice. He has published numerous papers on these subjects and edited several memoranda and volumes, among these: The Second Lebanon War: Strategic Perspectives (with Shlomo Brom, published by Yediot Ahronot and INSS in 2007); Societal Resilience (with Alexander McLellan, published in 2012 by the Homeland Security and Analysis Institute in the US); and The IDF Strategy in the Perspective of National Security (with Gabi Siboni and Kobi Michael, published in 2016 by INSS).

 

Elran holds a B.A. from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in Political Science and Middle East Studies (1965), M.A. from Indiana University in International Relations and Russian Studies (1970), and Ph.D. in Political Science from the Haifa University (2017). Elran is also the head of the M.A. program for national security with the department of public policy at the Sapir Academic College.

 

The lecture will strive to explain the how is it that the strongest power in the Middle East - not only militarily - is facing difficulties in managing the continuous conflicts with its much weaker adversaries, such as Hezbollah and Hamas. Strengths and weaknesses of Israel will be analyzed, in the context of the ever changing strategic situation in the Middle East, and the Israeli current diplomatic and security posture will be critically discussed.

 

Sponsored by the Mershon Center for International Security Studies