Chuck Freilich proposes a variation of the traditional Passover seder song which highlights the events of 2019-2020.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears most likely to form Israel's next government following its election on 9 April, although it is unclear how stable such a government would be. Further elections within the next two years are quite possible. Whatever the outcome of the election, Israel's next leader will be forced to address a range of serious and interrelated strategic challenges.

This article presents both the fundamental changes that have taken place in Israel's strategic environment, from conventional, state-based threats to primarily asymmetrical ones, and the responses it has developed to date. It also addresses Israel's relations with the United States and other primary international actors, as well as Israel's nuclear and regional arms control policy.

Chuck Freilich writes that Israel has thirty years before the enlightened state sinks into poor and illiberal darkness. This time, the threat is the militant religious fundamentalism of the ultra-Orthodox Jews.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei recently outlined a draft version of a vision for Iran for the next fifty years. Chuck Freilich adopts a similar long-term approach for Israel by outlining foreign and defense objectives as well as national objectives in domestic affairs.

In this chapter, Chuck Freilich presents the regional and global developments and the changes in the nature of the diplomatic and military threats Israel faces that have transformed its strategic environment in recent decades. At 70, Israel continues to face a daunting array of threats, as do few states in the world. Israel has, however, won the battle for its existence and is stronger militarily and more secure today than ever before. Furthermore, it has ties with more states than ever before, including a unique relationship with the United States, and a vibrant economy that has grown rapidly in recent decades, turning Israel into an international leader in high-tech.