This article provides insights into the dangers and opportunities that the cyber realm poses to states by conducting the first comprehensive case study on Israeli use of cyberspace.

Standing before the United States Congress early in March 2015, in the face of a looming deadline in the Iran and P5+1 talks over the Iranian nuclear program, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu portrayed the negotiations in stark terms. Drawing a direct parallel between biblical plots to persecute Jews in pre-Islamic Persia and modern Iran’s nuclear program, Netanyahu framed Iran as nothing less than an existential threat to Israel. Anything short of a practical dismantling of Iranian nuclear infrastructure would be unacceptable. Largely perceived as an attempt to undermine President Barack Obama’s efforts to reach a negotiated settlement with Iran, Netanyahu’s actions thus proved quite contentious inside the United States.

"Some critics incorrectly conflate AIPAC with the policies of the Israeli government and thus seek to promote their views by supporting alternative lobbies more in tune with their own thinking. This well-meaning but dangerously misguided approach fails to understand that AIPAC's fundamental role, as the Israel lobby, is to promote US-Israeli relations without regard to who is in office either in Jerusalem or Washington."

"A takeover of Syria by the self-proclaimed Islamic State or Syrian rebel groups would also prove dangerous. Heinous as it is, Bashar al-Assad's regime still has many assets to lose in a confrontation with Israel and can thus be deterred. It will take time for non-state actors to develop similar assets."

"As an unprecedented and recently published Israel Defense Forces document on national security strategy emphasizes, the primary threats Israel faces today all stem from radical Islamist organizations, such as Hezbollah and the Islamic State. They not only seek Israel's demise, but a transformation of the entire Middle East, threatening what remains of the regional state system...."

"..."[I]t is time for the Prime Minister to come to his senses and to understand that a small country, whose very existence depends today on the United States, cannot physically block a major presidential initiative. Instead, he would be wise to work with the American administration to close gaps in the agreement, maintain close intelligence supervision of Iran's observance of the agreement, and even to take advantage of this moment to try and reach an historic defense treaty with the United States."

When a nation's strategic environment, military threats, and society undergo fundamental change, it is time for a fundamental change in its national security doctrine. It is ths surprising that while the threats are increasingly disappearing, the defense budget continues to grow and a substantive change in the national security doctrine has yet to take place.

The percentage of Israelis killed by terrorism is higher than in any other democracy. The article analyzes the threats Israel has faced, the impact terrorism has had on Israel, and the counter-terrorism policies Israel has adopted.

"For 10–15 years Israel will not have to live under the specter of a nuclear Iran and of an existential threat. For a country whose security situation is as precarious as Israel's, that is a mouthful. Moreover, it will enable Israel to focus on the threats posed by Hezbollah's mammoth rocket arsenal, now estimated at over 130,000 strong, and on Hamas and ISIS, as well as long needed educational, health and other domestic reforms."

"Benjamin Netanyahu should have accepted U.S. policy long ago, rather than positioning himself as the primary and maybe sole opponent among U.S. allies. The defamation campaign now expected against the agreement in the Congress is destined to fail, and even if the totally unexpected occurs, it will be the Israeli Prime Minister who will have personally blocked the primary foreign policy initiative of the Obama presidency."