Top Israeli think tank warns: Potential for war with Iran is growing

In annual threat assessment, Institute for National Security Studies sees high risks of large-scale war in the north and in Gaza in 2020

By Judah Ari Gross 6 January 2020

The head of Tel Aviv's Institute for National Security Studies think tank Amos Yadlin, left, presents President Reuven Rivlin with the organization's strategic assessment for 2020 at the President's Residence on January 6, 2020. (Chen Galili/INSS)

There is a growing risk of large-scale war along Israel’s northern borders in the coming year, in large part due to Iran’s increasing “determination and daring,” one of Israel’s leading national security think tanks warned Monday.

Each year, the Tel Aviv University-affiliated Institute for National Security Studies prepares a “strategic assessment” of the threats facing the State of Israel and the steps it believes the country should take to protect against them. The think tank, which is largely made up of former senior defense and diplomatic officials, presents those findings to the president.

On Monday, INSS director Amos Yadlin, a former head of Military Intelligence, provided President Reuven Rivlin with the institute’s assessments for 2020, including a warning that there is a “rise in the likelihood of war” in light of a variety of security, political and diplomatic factors. In his speech after receiving the assessment, Rivlin lamented that Israel was facing this threat at a time of “political paralysis,” in which the country has not had a functioning government in over a year.

“The political paralysis in Israel is coming at an especially terrible point in time,” he said. “Instead of shaking hands and coming together to meet the Iranian threat, we have entered into a very problematic internal tailspin.”

INSS researchers determined that while Israel’s assorted enemies do not appear to be interested in a large-scale conflict at this time, there area “factors that could lead to the possibility that a conflict could anyway take place in 2020.”

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For full article: https://www.timesofisrael.com/top-israeli-think-tank-warns-potential-for-war-with-iran-is- growing/