"Israel’s Military Is World-Class. But Is It Ready?" Topic

"The Israel Defense Forces are widely respected as a cutting-edge military machine. The IDF is equipped with extremely lethal cyberwar capacity, eyes-on-the-world intel, star-wars level missile defense systems, a justly famous air force, and a small but superbly trained cadre of special forces troops.

But a scathing critique of the IDF's culture and readiness from a retired general has created a debate within Israel about whether the country has become complacent. It's a debate worth having, even if some of the fears are likely overblown…."
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Amicalement
Armand

Has it ever NOT been up to the challenge or ready?
Ummmmm, no.

Yom Kippur War. They were not ready. It took great effort and sacrifice for them to finally be up for the challenge.

I think they may be too prepared for a conventional invasion, not enough for counter-insurgency work.

The two require vastly different skill sets and equipment.

Who are their biggest threats? Hamas from Gaza and the occupied territories, a guerilla/ insurgent force at best, and the Iranians – they need a jumping off point in Syria and any attempt at a build up has been knocked back by bombing.
Egypt and Jordan have no will or desire to fight the IDF, both being concerned about Islamic extremist infiltration….
I get the impression that the report is based on a '73 scenario and the chances of catching the Israelis off guard now seem slim to nil.

Israel has shown the ability to adapt and be flexible when it comes to countering her enemy's asymmetrical tactics.

After suffering various rocket and mortar attacks in the early part of the decade, for example, now they're actively and aggressively pre-empting future attacks by gathering intel and keeping "heavy weapons" from being transferred to insurgent groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.

Hezzies and their Iranian allies in Lebanon, who they've been shuttling ALL those rockets/missiles to with commercial aircraft flights over Syria.

If anything, I suspect the Egyptians are on Israel's side, and have been for some time, since the Muslim Brotherhood was thrown out of power, and many jailed.

Jordan's probably sympathetic to them too.

It's an open secret that the Israelis and Egyptians have each other's border patrol radio frequencies and a hot pursuit doctrine for chasing terrorists. To the point that I think the last time some idiots tried to run across the border, they ran into an Israeli unit as the anvil while the Egyptians played hammer, in Israeli territory.

Yup, as long as there are dead terrorists, the border violation has been ruled as 'military cooperation'.