When Israelis ponder their security challenges, they are usually torn between the frequent phenomena of terror attacks by Palestinian perpetrators and the longer-range threats from Iran and its local proxies in Lebanon and Gaza.
It is also obvious that these separate challenges can converge once a minor incident escalates into a major campaign on several fronts.
If that is not enough to rattle nerves in the heat-struck Middle East, domestic cohesion has been ruptured by controversial legislation and the protests have been led by former military officers, no longer obliged to serve in the active reserves, who have withdrawn their willingness to volunteer for service. This, in turn, emboldens Israel’s enemies. Altogether, it makes for a complex strategic situation.
