Israel has been locked in conflict with the Palestinians and its Arab neighbors over ownership
of land considered holy by many Jews, Christians, and Muslims since its creation in 1948.
Israel is a small country in terms of population and its land mass has almost no strategic
depth.
But in the last century, Israel has thwarted off her combined enemies on more than one
occasions.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) is currently considered to be one of the most potent and
efficient military organization in the world.
In this video, Defense Updates analyze why no enemies of Israel dares to touch it?
Let's get in the details.
The IDF was founded in May 1948 by Israel’s then Defense Minister David Ben-Gurion.
The Defense Service Law gave the IDF the authority to enlist any citizen
All Israeli citizens over the age of 18 who are Jewish, Druze, or Circassian are drafted
in military training.
The normal length of compulsory service is currently 2 years and 8 months for men and
2 years for women.
The training is not only targeted to equip the participants with knowledge of military
hardware and operations but also to instill a sense of nationalism.
This lays the base for a strong nation where a huge percent of its total population is
mentally motivated and decently trained to be capable of being quickly called in in case
of any conflict.
Those who join the IDF permanently receive very through training that is considered to
one of the best in the world.
The Israel troops are also one of the most battle-hardened as they have to face militants
almost on a daily basis.
Mossad is Israel’s first line of defense.
Mossad is responsible for intelligence gathering, counter terrorism, and clandestine operations.
In contrast to the government and military, Mossad is exempt from the Basic Laws of Israel.
Its internal structure and ways of working are secret.
Its director is answerable only to Prime Minister.
Mossad is one of the premier intelligence agency in the world and its operations over
the years have made sure that it is dreaded by Israel’s enemies.
The agency is known to have infiltrated deeply in Israel’s rivals and have very well placed
high-level human assets to provide critical intelligence.
Mossad acts in tandem with Israel’s special forces like Sayeret Matkal and has even very
effective in neutralizing many threats.
On the morning of June 5, 1967, the first day of the Six-Day War, the Israeli Air Force
executed Operation Focus in 3 hours.
The operation crippled the opposing Arab air forces and resulted in Israel attaining air
supremacy for the remainder of the war.
In a superbly planned surprise attack, the IAF destroyed most of the Egyptian Air Force
while its planes were still on the ground.
By the end of the day, the IAF had also destroyed the Syrian and Jordanian air forces as well,
striking as far as Iraq.
In just 6 days, Israel claimed a total of 452 Arab aircraft destroyed, of which 49 were
aerial victories.
The victory is still considered to be one of the most amazing tactical victories in
modern history and has stamped the authority of IAF over the region.
Israel and the United States agreed last year on the purchase of 50 F-35 fighters, two squadrons,
from Lockheed Martin, with delivery to be completed by 2024.
F 35 being a 5th generation stealthy fighter will provide the Israeli Defense Forces with
a distinct advantage.
Israel does not confirm nor deny having nuclear weapons, the policy of nuclear ambiguity.
The policy to maintain silence over its nuclear program has been a successful strategy.
It has not complicated the situation in the region but also provided Israel with the needed
leverage with America.
The 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and instability in the Middle East will ensure
that Israel will probably remain the only one with operational nukes in the region in
foreseeable future.
This means Israel will have the major advantage in term of military capability.
Israel ’s weapons are thought to deployed onto Israel’s version of a ‘Nuclear Triad'.
Nuclear Triad is the ability to launch nukes from land, air and sea assets.
Israel mostly likely have F-15I and F-16I fighters as nuke the delivery platform from the air.
Israel has a very potent land-based nuke delivery option, Jericho I was the first missile developed
by Israel for this purpose.
It is was designed in cooperation with France.
Further iterations of Jericho have been developed namely Jericho II and Jericho III.
It is believed that all Jericho 1s are retired and are replaced with Jericho II & Jericho III
Jericho II has a range of 932 miles, while Jericho III has a range of at least 3,106 miles.
As the sea-based delivery option, Israel has 5 German-built Dolphin-class submarines.
Experts believe that these carry a classified number of nuclear-tipped cruise missiles.
American support for Israel really is massive, including billions of dollars in aid and diplomatic
backing in international forums.
The reasons include America’s ideological attachment to an embattled democracy and common
interest in fighting jihadism.
Military cooperation range from joint development of defense platforms as well as intelligence sharing.
The United States maintains about $300 million in military equipment inside Israel.
Though the equipment is owned by the United States and is for use by American forces in
the Middle East, but those can also be transferred to Israel in case any war-like situation presents itself.
It will be fair to say that in case Israel faces any external threat, America will put
its weight behind it.
This will include not only diplomatic support but also military intervention.