Life by the Sword: The Israel Defense Forces

The IDF, the Israel Defense Forces, is one of the most powerful armies in the world. It is rooted in a small country with under 8 million inhabitants, and it has lived with over 60 years of wars. Living by the sword makes its impact felt on every aspect of life, from politics to economics and to culture and to wars.

To what extent is the state of Israel governed by the requirement of defense? How does the fact that Israel has lived on the sword for so long affect the life of its people?

The military threats vis-a-vis Israel are nuclear threat from Iran at the top of the list, and then a asymmetrical threat from Hezbollah, Hamas, and non-state organizations with a lot of rockets and missiles. And then, we cannot neglect the traditional threats of armies. And now there is a combination of asymmetrical threats with traditional symmetrical threat.