Country Brief on Israel - Essay Example

Country Brief on Israel Israel United s Military Involvement The commitment of America in the security as well as prosperity of Israel has been into practice since several decades. United States has realized the fact that healthy security relationship in between United States -Israel is good for Israel, good for the United Sates and also good for the purpose of regional security. Since decades, the foundation of the US security pledge to Israel has been related to the guarantee that the United States would assist Israel to endorse its Qualitative Military Edge (QME). Israels Qualitative Military Edge (QME) is the country’s capability to oppose and conquer military risks from any individual state, non-state actor or alliance of states, whilst supporting negligible damages or losses. The Obama administration of the USA has confirmed its commitment towards the Israel’s QME by supporting and developing practices which were prepared by previous administrations and also taking new plans to make the security relation between US-Israel closer. It has been noted that for the fiscal year of 2011, Obama Administration declared $3 billion for the purpose of Foreign Military Financing (FMF) for Israel (Shapiro, 2010). National Purpose The constitutional system of Israel is considered to be unique in the world. The United Nations declaration that took place in November 29, 1947 supporting the separation of Palestine into two autonomous states, Arab and Jewish, demanded the states to take into consideration the written constitution. ‘The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel’, announced by the Provisional Government and the Provisional Council related to State demanded the constitutional committee to prepare a draft constitution and also demanded it to be adopted by an elected constituent assembly not after October 1, 1948. After assembling on February 14, 1949, it was found that the Constituent Assembly rather than sketching a constitution transformed itself into legislative body and therefore Transition Law was passed which was known as small constitution. The fact is that the State of Israel could not agree to a formal constitution. The main elements of the Israel’s constitutional law are the ‘Basic Laws of Israel’. The main function of this law is to form the primary states’ institutions and also aim at developing relations between the authorities of the states (Elazer, n.d.). The key national interest of Israel is to protect and to enhance liberty to act independently. It also aims at developing Israel’s uneven power so that the country can remain one of the dominant actors (Kramer, 2011). Major Adversary - Along with the military support, Israel has been getting additional aids and benefits from the US. Israel has obtained significant economic assistance from the US (Sharp, 2010). Minor Adversary - It can be stated that Israel not only confronts one threat but there are many threats to the national purpose of Israel. Along with the external military threats the country also receives threat in the form of domestic opposition, erosion of core values and demographic trends. Terrorism is also one of the biggest threats to the nation (Oren, 2009). Ideology Israel’s legislation is quite broad and comprehensive in comparison to the US. Furthermore, the legislation of Israel also retrains the liberated speech of both the individual as well as the civil society who calls for boycott of their principles (The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, 2011). The country has a parliamentary democracy and there are three branches, namely the executive, legislature and judiciary. There are numerous political parties as well such as Likud, Ysisrael Beiteinu, Kadima and other numerous secular and religious parties (US Department of State, 2011). However, it has been identified that the legislative procedure is not regulated in parliamentary legislations. It is the duty of the Attorney General Directive to deal with these matters. National Interest The economy of Israel is considered to possess technologically superior market economy. There are many industries in the country such as processed foods along with transport equipments, metal products as well as chemicals. It has been noted that the United States is one of the biggest business associates of Israel. Israel has been one of the biggest exporters of equipments related to military in the world (Travel Document System, 2009). National Power According to the major indices of national power, it has been observed that since the last two decades, Israel has become stronger in absolute terms as well as in terms of its neighbor. One of the reasons behind this has been the fact that the country has reaped the benefits of 26 years of peace with Egypt (Feldman, 2004). Threats One of the significant threats to the country of Israel is global terrorism by means of terrorist actions against the Israelis. Low-intensity conflicts along with its classic military organization create problems for Israel. Urban rivalry is one of the significant threats to the country where it has been found often that the terrorists operate wearing civilian attire (Haloutz, 2004). Domestic Factor The chief interest groups in Israel that had been impacting the creation of the public policy have comprised the politically influential Histadrut, the kibbutzim and the Moshavim. All these groups have been affiliated and represented in most of the political parties (Mongabay, 2010). It is not only the Jewish community that supports the Israel but also it has been found that Americans belonging to all ages, religions and races support Israel fully (Bard, 2011). Comment Israel has declarative agreements with the US. The US has endorsed the ‘Israeli-PLO Declaration of Principles’ which was signed in Washington in the year 1993 (Mark, 2002). Military Strategy Since the last half of the 20th century there have been certain changes in the Israeli society and also among the characteristics of the military challenges that are confronted by the defense planners. The country has a complicated defense industry. The country is well prepared to take benefits of the transformations in the military technology as well as application of new information systems. The country makes use of the exactitude-guided weapons and better intelligence gathering system so that it can conquer its enemy and save the lives of its soldiers (BBC, 1998). International Strategy Domestic Israeli markets are incapable of endorsing the country’s local innovations. Therefore, it has become quite significant for the country to adopt a global strategy in order to survive. However, it has been found that most of the country’s international dealings are geared towards the improvement of its own nation. It has been found that the US continues to persuade and to endorse Israel’s communication with the international community (Ellenshankman, n.d.). Foreign Policy Like other nations, the foreign policy of the country is derived basically from interests as well as ideologies. In addition to this fact, the approach of Israel to the world is also shaped by its political culture. The foreign policy of the country is impacted by Israel’s strategic context, the quarrels between the Arabs and the Israelis as well as the refusal of acceptance of Israel by most of the Arab states. The main objective of the Israel’s foreign policy is to beat diplomatic separation and to attain recognition as well as friendly relation with as many nations as possible. Israel has been practicing open and secret diplomacy in order to attain its national objectives. The inner cabinet that comprises of the Prime Minister, Minister of Defense, Minister of Foreign Affairs as well as other elected ministers is mainly charged with the responsibility of preparing the foreign policy decisions in Israel. The Prime Minister has a major role to play in taking the major decisions with regards to the foreign policy. The legal as well as the political advisors play the role of consultants and they do not take part in operational jobs. It has been noted that the United States endorses Israel to be a prominent player in the region (US Library of Congress, n.d.). References Bard, M. (2011). Public opinion towards Israel. Retrieved from http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/USIsrael/American_attitudes_toward_Israel.html BBC. (1998). Israel sharpens its military strategy. Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/events/israel_at_50/israel_today/79617.stm Elazer, D. J. (n.d.). The constitution of the state of Israel. Retrieved from http://www.jcpa.org/dje/articles/const-intro-93.htm Ellenshankman. (n.d.). Global branding strategy for Israeli companies. Retrieved from http://www.ellenshankman.com/branding.htm Feldman, S. (2004). Israels new national policy debate. Retrieved from http://web.mit.edu/ssp/seminars/wed_archives04spring/feldman.htm Haloutz, M. G. D. (2004). Jerusalem issue brief. Retrieved from http://www.jcpa.org/brief/brief3-16.htm Kramer, M. (2011). Israel’s national interests (not only for Chinese). Retrieved from http://www.martinkramer.org/sandbox/2011/10/israels-national-interests/ Mongabay. (2010). Israel interest group. Retrieved from http://www.mongabay.com/history/israel/israel-interest_groups.html Mark, C. R. (2002). Israeli-united states relations. Retrieved From http://www.policyalmanac.org/world/archive/crs_israeli-us_relations.shtml Oren, M.B. (2009). Seven existential threats. Retrieved from http://www.commentarymagazine.com/article/seven-existential-threats/ Shapiro, A. J. (2010). The Obama administrations approach to U.S.-Israel security cooperation: preserving Israels qualitative military edge. Retrieved from http://www.state.gov/t/pm/rls/rm/144753.htm Sharp, J. M. (2010). U.S. foreign aid to Israel. Retrieved from http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RL33222.pdf The Association for Civil Rights in Israel. (2011). Comparative analysis of US boycott-banning legislation and the Israeli boycott bill. Retrieved from http://www.acri.org.il/en/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Comparative-US-Israel-boycott-ENG.pdf Travel Document System. (2009). Economy. Retrieved from http://www.traveldocs.com/il/economy.htm US Department of State. (2011). Background note: Israel. Retrieved from http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3581.htm US Library of Congress. (n.d.). Foreign relations. Retrieved from http://countrystudies.us/israel/106.htm Read More