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Home , Aryeh Deri, Cabinet of Israel, Gilad Erdan, Moshe Kahlon, My Israel, Nadav Argaman

National Security Council of the State of PacMUN 2018

Chair: Ngoc Vo Crisis Director: Jena Liebscher

Introduction to the Committee

Dear Delegates,

Welcome to the Israeli Committee at PacMUN. My name is Ngoc Vo, a current sophomore at Stanford University and I will be having the distinct honour of being your chair for the duration of this conference. I look forward to your participation and insightful discussion as we discuss the relevant and significant political changes in the region.

It is my hope that you will be able to hone your public speaking skills, challenge your pre- existing conceptions of the Israeli politics and engage with other delegates in productive discussions to each and every crisis scenario that have been prepared for you.

The crisis team and chair team have worked hard in preparing for your experience here at PacMUN, especially with creating interesting and dynamic crisis simulation and background guides to help guide your research as you begin to delve into the intricate webs of Middle Eastern politics.

It is my pleasure to serve as your chair and I hope this experience shall serve as memorable and engaging as you hoped it would be. Feel free to contact me at [email protected] if you have any questions and I look forward to seeing you at PACMUN.

Sincerely, Ngoc

Historical Overview a. The Creation of the State of Israel and Israel’s War of Independence The State of Israel was founded in May 14th, 1948 by David Ben-Gurion, then the head of the Jewish Agency. Following this proclamation, President Henry Truman recognised the legitimacy of this new nation. This recognition followed the previous support for the Balfour Declaration in 1917, which detailed the resettlement of the new Jewish home in Palestine. Initially, there were protest from the Arabs in the region; however, President Roosevelt assured that the United States would not intervene in the region without consulting the Arabs and Jewish. At the time, the British, who were mandated with Palestine till May 1945, was opposed to the creation of this new nation with unlimited Jewish refugees to the region. This was mainly motivated by the desire to preserve the good relations between the British and the Arabs.1 Soon after the Declaration of Independence, the armies of Egypt, Jordan, , Lebanon and Iraq invaded the country. The invasion, soon to be known in Israel as the War of Independence, lasted for 15 months and had casualties of up to 6000 ’ lives. Furthermore, in 1949, the United Nations arbitrated the negotiations between Israel and its respective invading countries except Iraq that resulted in the armistice that ended the invasion. It was agreed under the armistice that the Coastal Plain, Galilee and the Negev would be under Israeli sovereignty, the Jude’s and Samaria (also known as the West Bank) would come under Jordanian sovereignty and the , which now is under much conflict, would be under Egyptian administration. would be divided between Jordan and Israel, where Israel would control the western sector.2 The creation of Israel was a turmoil beginning for the Jewish state. Even with the United States’ support, Resolution 181, which recommended the creation of the trusteeship that limited Jewish immigration and the division of Palestine into Jewish and Arabs provinces, there were still rising unresolved tension between Palestinian Arabs and Jews that continued to present day. b. Political Structure of Israel

1 https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/creation-israel 2 http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/AboutIsrael/History/Pages/HISTORY-%20The%20State%20of%20Israel.aspx

Israel is based on a parliamentary democracy that consists of the legislative, executive and judicial branches and its institutions are the presidency, the unicameral legislature called , the cabinet of ministers and the judiciary. Like most Western democracies, the separation and independence of the judiciary is guaranteed by law.3 The Knesset employs a nationwide proportional representation system for its 120 seats of 4-year terms. Citizens cast votes for parties instead of individuals, and any party with more than 3.5% of the vote is assigned a proportionate number of seats. Parties then hold internal elections to choose their representatives.4 , Israeli Prime Minister from 1969 to 1974, quipped to President Nixon that Nixon was the President of 150 million Americans while he was the prime minister of "3 million prime ministers."5 Indeed, roughly ten parties forming a coalition government at any given time, and precisely zero have ever formed a majority in Israel's history. This rich—and often fractured— political life follows from the Knesset's voting system, which allows citizens to cast votes for more than one party.6 Many parties specialize around a narrow, special-interesting agenda, elevating even fringe interests on the political periphery to the parliament. With the larger alliances in stiff competition, these smaller unions wield disproportionate influence by breaking ties. Although Israel has raised the minimum threshold from representation several times from 1% to 2% to 3.5%, the kaleidoscopic nature of Israeli politics has not waned. Despite all of the constant flux, the state has demonstrated remarkable stability, earning the title of a "flawed

3 http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/aboutisrael/state/pages/the%20state-%20political%20structure.aspx 4 The Government And by Donald Perez 5 https://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/01/a-libel-law-and-balancing-act 6 https://www.knesset.gov.il/description/eng/eng_mimshal_yesod.htm

democracy" by the Economist Intelligence Unit and a reputation as one of the freest states in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).7 Among the most significant players, the socialist Labour party traces its origin to the Zionist movements that founded the state, dominating coalitions until 1977 when the revisionist party cannibalized its political base with a slightly more leftist agenda open to compromise on land. Other leftists include a communist faction and a plethora of smaller nationalist and fundamentalist Arab parties. Centrist movements find a home in the political sphere as well (e.g., and ), advocating for a more secular state focused on social change.8

c. Significant Israeli conflicts through history i. The Six Day War (June 1967) The Six Day War was perhaps a demonstration of the sour relationship between Israel and Syria. Years of hostility and an immediate catalyst, the series of border disputes between Syria-backed Palestinian groups and Israeli border forces. These disputes escalated and Egypt, acting on information from the Soviet Union that Israeli forces were gathering North of Syria, led an attack into the Sinai Peninsula, pushing out the UN peacekeeping forces that were present there.

This resulted in a brief but violent war between Israel, Egypt, Syria and Jordan. The IDF launched pre-emptive air strikes that destroyed the Egyptian air forces and staged successful ground offensive that reached the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.9 On June 7th, the Israeli had achieved serious geopolitical success and celebrated by praying at the Western Wall.10

One of the most significant consequences of the war was the greater domestic effects on nationalism in Israel. It had caused the growth of nationalism and in turn ignited the mounting hostility between the Arab-Israeli conflict. This was especially demonstrated by the meeting of Arab leaders in Khartoum, Sudan in August 1967 that emphasised "no peace, no recognition and no negotiation" with Israel, which was seen as the long-term cause of the Yom-Kippur War. It also laid down the fundamental framework of contention that still exist now in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Especially, as Israel still occupy and settle over the territories that it seized during the conflict especially the Golan Heights and the West bank. This also resulted in one of the worse refugee crises of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip that persist today.

ii. Yom-Kippur War (October 1973) The Yom Kippur War was perhaps one of the most significant demonstration of the hostility and sour relationship between Israel, Egypt and Syria. On the Day of Atonement, considered to be one of the most important days in the Jewish calendar, Israel was attacked by Egypt and Syria.

7 https://www.eiu.com/public/topical_report.aspx?campaignid=DemocracyIndex2016 8 https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2015/03/15/the-evolution-of-israeli-politics 9 Refer to Creation of the State of Israel for the significance of these places that were seized by the Israeli forces 10 https://www.history.com/topics/six-day-war

The lack of awareness had allowed Egypt to cross the Suez Canal and reach the east bank and Syria to reach the Golan Heights and the Sea of Galilee. However, the Israeli was able to push back to the west bank of the Suez Canal within 100km of Cairo and within artillery range of Damascus. Because of this, it established major treaties and agreements with Syria and Egypt: The Separation-of-Forces Agreements, which created a demilitarised strip and a militarily restricted strip between Syria and Israel and the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty in 1979, which demilitarised the entirety of Sinai Peninsula. The Separation-of-Forces Agreement is still today under effect enforced by the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF). Despite these achievements, the Yom-Kippur War brought much damage to the Israeli military. First of the all, the failure to recognise and warn of the incoming attack had resulted in the resignation of the Chief of Staff and the Chief of Intelligence. Many planes were destroyed by the Russian-made SAM missiles, only 100 of 265 tanks of the first echelons survived and Israel lost 2688 of its soldiers. Only the Navy stood out of the military in having no lost a single ship.

iii. The Gulf War (1990-91) One of the significant interventions by Israel was during the Gulf War in 1991. Although perhaps superficially, Israel was not a participant of the war, the pre-emptive strike on Iraq in August 1990 could be interpreted as an act of intervention that affected its relationships with Iraq, Syria and the US. There are highly polarising interpretation of Israeli intervention in the Gulf War. However, most historians would agree that the attack on Iraq was pre-emptive in nature. An account from historian Avi Shlaim suggested that the attack on Iraq was in line with the Israeli military doctrine of proactiveness, pre-emption and moving the fight towards the enemy's territories. For much of the beginning of the Gulf War, Israel watched Iraqi military capabilities and Saddam's nuclear programme to balance the Arab-Israeli military equation in the Middle East. This was catalysed by the invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. The invasion firstly took Israel by surprise. Paired with its priorities to deal with Syria and the intifada at the time, and its lack of satellite technology, it was unable to predict the invasion despite being aware of the growing concentration of Iraqi military troops on the borders. Furthermore, in April 1990, Saddam made the public state of "if the Zionist entity, which has atomic bombs, dared attack Iraq", it would use binary chemical weapons on Israel. The highly tensed, aggressive relationship between Israel and Iraq further deteriorated. It was perhaps inevitable that it would reach a breaking point with the combination of verbal and military threat. During the invasion of Kuwait, one of the higher-ranking officials observed that "Kuwait [was] a long way" and that such invasion was no direct threat towards the security of Israel. However, analogy was drawn towards Hitler's act of aggression in 1930s where Czechoslovakia was too seen as a problem "too far away". At the time, there was also hope that Israel's long-time powerful allies would come to its aid. What was most particular about this incident was that Israel found itself on the same side as its most bitter enemy, Syria. Though their policies against Iraq differed greatly. Whilst the Arabs wanted the reversal of the aggressive policies and back

towards the political status quo, Israel wanted the complete demolition of Iraqi military power, which would tilt the military balance in favour of it. Publicly, this also benefited Israel by focussing international attention towards Iraq as the primary source of tension in the Middle East. However, that reversed when Iraq proposed that it would withdraw from Kuwait if Israel withdrew from Arab territories and Syria from Lebanon. Saddam effectively created a linkage with the Gulf conflict with the Arab Israeli conflict, which before it had nothing to do with creating a public image of an Arab hero and a saviour to the Palestinian masses. Although Israel denied this linkage, it was still put on the defensive with Arab-Israeli conflict now put high in the international agenda. The continuity of the issue further deteriorated US-Israel relations. The US failure to treat Israel as a strategic partner and reluctance to share intelligence slowly started to make Israel lose faith in its allies. Furthermore, America had voted within the UN to vote in favour of the resolution to condemn Israel, paired with the massacre on Temple Mount had contributed to the dampening relations between Israel and the US. Although there was some relief when the US passed resolution 678 to use "all necessary means" to stop Iraqi aggression in Kuwait, they continued to be rejected with their request to share intelligence. During this time of difficult relations between Israel and the US, the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) was put on high alert. In January 1991, Tel Aviv and were hit by 8 Iraqi Scud missiles. The damage was limited. However, there was severe psychological fear and impact. The attack shocked the US and Israel. This was a catalyst toward the eventual attack in 17 January 1991 in Iraq. Over a period of the month since the attack, Iraq fired 38 Scud missiles in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Samaria and the Dimona area. Throughout the entire crisis, America publicly commended its restraint and afterwards refrained from active participation. One could argue that Israel because of this incident, benefited the most from consolidating its relationship with its biggest ally, the US from what was a tumultuous relationship. Perhaps however, the US reliance on Israel and vice versa showed that there was strong influences and pressure from the US could persuade Israel to change its policies.

Foreign Policy and Current Situation a. United States of America Since its creation, one could say that the US has been a continuous strategic partner of Israel. Being the first country to recognise its legitimacy and significantly, recognising that Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, it has close historical, cultural and political partnership with the US.

Seeing Israel as its continued reliable partner and strategic ally in influencing the Middle Eastern region politics, the US has cultivated close ties with Israel. Militarily, the US continues to send $3 billion in Foreign Military Financing every year and conducts high-level military exchanges with Israel that comprises of military research, weapons development and military exercises. Through the organisation of the Joint Counterterrorism Group and the Strategic Dialogue, this demonstrates the continuous efforts to continue its military cooperation. Israel remains to be one of the US non-contested issues. Despite Trump's mixed signals about the Israel-Palestinian issues

during the pledged to strengthen relationship ties with Israel. Similarly, Clinton promised to support Israel. Even during Obama administration, who had a rough relationship with President Netanyahu11, had signed a renewed military assistant contract in September 2016. It appears military assistantship between the US and Israel is one of the most stable pillars of US-Israel relationship.12

Furthermore, it also continues an economic relationship. Most significantly, the US and Israel have partaken in a free trade agreement since 1985 that had resulted in the expansion of trade and investment, the reduction of trade barriers and the promotion of regulatory transparency between both countries. Both countries meet at the Joint Economic Development Group annually to investigate ways of deepening its economic ties and seek ways to reforms its economy. Other organisations and conferences have also been facilitated to seek ways to enhance its cultural and scientific community such as the Binational Science Foundation and the Binational Agricultural Research. The United States is Israel largest trading partner importing US products of diamonds, semiconductors, aircraft, telecommunication and agricultural goods. The US also imports Israeli goods of diamonds, pharmaceutical goods, semiconductors, medicinal equipment and telecommunication equipment. There is also high capital inflow from the US, especially in its secondary sector.13 Furthermore, many US companies have set up technology incubators in Israel. As Bill Gates observed in 2006 "innovation going on in Israel is critical to the future of the technology business". Similarly, Israeli technology companies would turn to US companies as partners that helped the US continue its economic and technological competitiveness.14

However, perhaps one of the issues that seem to concern the Israeli is the fear of the US forcing its policy of disarming nuclear weapons in the region. Especially with its continuous pressure on US presidents to pledge to not press it to disarm its nuclear programmes and join the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). 15 Especially with the ongoing negotiations with Iran and discussions of nuclear disarmament, it had continued strike fear within the country that it would be forced to disarm.

b. Palestine

The conflict between Israel and Palestine fundamentally surrounds the two main territory of Gaza and the West Bank, home to large Palestinian populations. The West Bank is currently controlled by the Palestinian Authority but is still under Israeli occupation since 1967. Meanwhile, the Gaza is blockaded by Israel but has is not occupied by troops. It currently

11 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-33181782 12 https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/09/united-states-israel-memorandum-of- understanding-military-aid/500192/ 13 https://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3581.htm 14 https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/friends-with-benefits-why-the-u.s.-israeli-alliance-is- good-for-america 15 https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-trump-and-three-other-us-presidents-protected-israels- worst-kept-secret-its-nuclear-arsenal

controlled by the (an Islamic fundamentalist group). The disunion between the West Bank and Gaza governments complicates hopes of arriving at an enforceable agreement.

There have been multiple solutions given to try to resolve this conflict, most popularly: the two- state solution and the one-state solution. The two-state solution has roots in the fact that there were two different national communities, the Jewish and the Palestinians, with different language, religion and identity. Both communities want "self-determination" and the majority of the both sides have shown the desire to compromise. However, much of the problems of the two- state solution is the political fall-out being seen as the nation in which had compromised and contain nationalist populist strongly opposed to such solutions. 16 Moreover, both communities are deeply divided in its implementation.

Alternatively (and this is a solution that is advocated by nationalist radicals), the one-state solution proposes that there would either only be Israel or Palestine. Whilst this would cause more problems in the long-term, especially worsening the current refugee crisis, it seemed like this solution is becoming more and more likely with the escalation of tensions between both countries.

c. Syria

Israeli-Syrian relations are non-existent at best and actively hostile at worst. With virtually no cultural and economic ties, the nations have been at a state of war since Israel's conception. Syria's Arab nationalism stands firmly opposed to Israel's . In October 1991, Syria joined the Madrid peace talks, with the main issue being Golan Heights, militarily important land that Israel annexed from Syria in the 1967 War. While negotiations came close to an agreement, they ultimately failed.17

Further heightening tensions, during its civil war, the Syrian regime found an ally in Iran, Israel's worst adversary in the region.18 Iran began stationing troops in Syria, a border state of Israel, dramatically escalating Israeli fears of invasion. This summer, Russia attempted to act as a diplomatic channel between Iran and Israel, wielding influence of its own in Damascus thanks to its support of the regime during the Syrian civil war. However, their proposal to create a roughly 100 kilometre buffer did not quiet the Israel's military fears. Israel demands nothing less than a complete pullback of Iranian troops from Syria, Iran refuses, and Syria appears unwilling to yield to Russian pressure and evict Iran.19

Current Domestic Situation a. Economic Growth and Rising Inequality

16 https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/02/02/confederation-the-one-possible-israel-palestine-solution/ 17 https://www.brookings.edu/research/israels-view-of-the-syrian-crisis/ 18 https://www.vox.com/cards/israel-palestine/egypt-jordan-lebanon-syria 19 https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/syria-israel-iran-withdrawal-border-russia

Where Israel's per-capita GDP was half of the United States' in 1990, today it has surpassed two- thirds. Thanks to a growth rate of 4.5%, double that of the United States, Israel's economy has climbed to #24th in the world, ahead of Japan and South Korea per the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Most of the growth derives from the booming tech industry, while sold $23 billion worth of start-ups in the just the last year. Tech giant offices and foreign investment have come raining in, and unemployment sank to 3.6%, the lowest since the 1970s. The economic gains, however, have not been equally distributed. The top 20 percent earns early 90 of the national income, with the bottom half of the population not even earning enough to pay income taxes. Israel simultaneously hosts the top research universities of the world while placing the bottom half in schools comparable to developing countries'. Public investment in projects like infrastructure has not kept up with the doubling of the population since the 1980s, with yet more austerity measures on the parliamentary floor. The creation of essentially parallel economies has ushered a deep accompanying socio-political divide.20 b. Uncertain Political Climate Political, economic, and social factors over the last decade gave rise to a resurgence of right- wing politics. The failure of the Palestinian peace talks and the concomitant violence cast doubt on the leftist promise of a land-for-peace agreement, raising hostility towards Palestinian. Scarce employment opportunities and affordable housing drove hundreds of thousands of young Israelis into mass uprising in 2011 in search of social justice and economic empowerment. Anti-elitist and populist sentiment seeped into the consciousness, throwing Israel's future in a cloak of uncertainty.21 In January 22, became the Prime Minister for the fourth time. A surprise swing of secular voters brought centre-left parties into power at the expense of Netanyahu's traditional religious, right-wing allies.22 Consequently, the new cabinet replaced the Orthodox Jewish voters, who had enjoyed power for several years, with the centrist Yesh Atid and the , a new secular, right-wing nationalist. The chaotic cabinet has left Netanyahu's austerity measures in deadlock and peace measures as unpromising as ever.23

Country Positions

Reuven Rivlin

President of the State Politician and lawyer currently serving as the 10th . Elected in 2014, Rivlin has formerly served as the the Minister of Communications and Speaker of the Knesset. A

20 https://www.dw.com/en/the-problems-with-israels-economic-miracle/a-43775723 21 www.nytimes.com/2011/08/12/world/middleeast/12israel.html 22 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-palestinians-israel-government-idUSBRE92H10Z20130318 23 https://www.thoughtco.com/current-situation-in-israel-2353137

member of the Likud party, Rivlin is in favor of a single-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and has been a vocal supporter of minority rights movements within Israel, particularly in regards to Arab Israelis.

Benjamin Netanyahu

Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Elected in 2009, the current Prime Minister of Israel. Has been elected for the position four times, and previously held the position from 1996-1999. Chairman of the Likud party and current Knesset member. A veteran of the Israeli Defence Forces, Netanyahu is the current chief executive of the Israeli government.

Avigdor Lieberman

Minister of Defense A Soviet-born politician, Lieberman currently serves as the Minister of Defense of Israel, having previously held a range of positions, from Minister of Transportation to Deputy Prime Minister. Founder of the party, supported primarily by former Soviet Union immigrants, Lieberman is notably in favor of Israeli membership to both the European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Avichai Mandelblit

Attorney General of Israel As Attorney General, Mandelblit currently stands as the head of the both the executive branch of Israel and the head of the public legal establishment. In contrast to the primarily structured roles and delegations of Israeli governmental positions, the role of Attorney General is largely rooted in tradition, and many of the duties appointed to the power have not been notified in written law. Mandelblit has previously served as the Chief Military Advocate General and Cabinet Secretary.

Gilad Erdan

Minister of Internal Security, Minister of Strategic Affairs, Minister of Information A politician and member of the Likud party, Erdan currently holds three ministry positions and has formerly held four others. As Minister of Internal Security, Erdan oversees the statewide law enforcement agencies and Israeli police. As Minister of Strategic Affairs, Erdan is tasked with overseeing the coordination of initiatives regarding domestic and international security,

Moshe Kahlon

Minister of Finance As the Minister of Finance, Kahlon is tasked with leading the implementation of upkeep of the state’s economic policy, while also working closely in the development and adoption of the national budget. Kahlon leads the Kulano party, and is notably active in combatting socio economic ills such as national poverty and income inequality.

Naftali Bennett

Minister of Education, Minister of Diaspora Affairs Bennett is the son of US immigrants, and a notable right-wing politician within the Israeli government. Having first involved himself in politics through his support of Benjamin Netanyahu’s 2007 campaign to lead to Likud, Bennett quickly became further involved in the Israeli government and continues to do so. He has led the religious party since 2012, and co-founded the My Israel extra-parliamentary movement in 2011.

Yuval Steinitz

Minister of National Infrastructure, Energy, and Water Steinitz currently serves as the Minister of Energy, and is formally in charge of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission. He also serves on the Israeli Security Cabinet, and has formerly served as the Minister of Finance, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

Eli Cohen

Minister of the Economy and Industry An accountant and polititian, Cohen is a current Knesset member for the centeralist Kulanu party, as well as the Minister of the Economy and Industry. He took over the latter position for Kulanu party leader in 2017.

Tzachi Hanegbi

Minister of Regional Cooperation, Minister of Communications A notable Israeli politician and national security expert, Hanegbi has held numerous Ministral positions related to national intelligence and security. He is a member of Likud, after a stint of membership with from 2005-2012. Hanegbi also underwent a four year trial concluding in 2010 for accusations of fraud, bribery, and breach of trust.

Ayelet Shaked

Minister of Justice Has been a Knesset member for The Jewish Home since 2013, and was elected as Minister of Justice in 2015. An active voice in current Israeli national politics, Shaked represents a secular perspective, and has been regarded as “Israel’s most successful female Israeli politician since Golda Meir.”

Sofa Landver

Minister of and Integration A Knesset member for Yisrael Beiteinu, Landver oversees the accomodation of new immigrants and allocation of benefits for such through her position as Minister of Aliyah and Integration. Landver has formerly held the notable position Deputy Minister of Transportation.

Yoav Galant

Minister of Construction Only emerging in the political dialogue in 2015, Galant spent the majority of his young life serving in the Israeli Defense forces, moving up the ranks steadily through his career. He emerged in politics in 2015 by joining the new Kulanu party. Galant was nearly named Chief in 2011, but amid a looming scandal surrounding land seizure allegations, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister cancelled his upcoming appointment.

Aryeh Deri

Minister of the Interior, Minister of the Development of the Negev and Galilee Member and former leader of the Orthodox political party , and current Knesset and Israeli Security member. After serving a 3-year sentence in 1999 for bribery, fraud, and breach of trust, Deri balanced short membership in the Knesset with leadership of the Shas, eventually being elected to his current positions in 2016 and 2015, respectively.

Nadav Argaman

Head of

Appointed by Netanyahu in 2016, Argaman serves as the head for Israel’s internal security service, Shin Bet. The group was brought under the control of the Knesset in 1948, and in 2002 was brought under the jurisdiction of the Knesset Foreign and Security Committee. Argaman himself has served in the Israeli Army.

Major General Tamir Heiman

Head of Aman Head of the military intelligence body of the Israel Defense Forces, which evaluates national security policies and deals primarily in military intelligence as it relates to national proceedings.

Yossi Cohen

Director of Appointed to his current position in 2015, Cohen oversees the national intelligence agency of Israel, Mossad. The agency itself is exempt from the , and deals in matters of counterterrorism and covert or undercover operations. Prior to being appointed Director of Mossad, Cohen was appointed the National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of Israel in 2013.