How Israel's National Security Deals with Continuing Terror Threats

By Jared Feldschreiber

In recent decades, Israel has found itself confronted with two main threats to its national security: namely, suicide bombings and surface-to-surface missiles from terrorist groups Hezb'allah and Hamas. Israel has been largely successful confronting these threats due to its sophisticated weaponry and strategy. After the Second Intifada began at the end of September 2000, terrorists began to infiltrate Israel and launched suicide bombings on buses, pizza parlors, cafés, and discotheques throughout the country. Many of the suicide bombers emanated from the West Bank. The suicide bombing during a Passover Seder on March 27 in Netanya, at the Park Hotel, killed thirty and injured over 130. One thousand two hundred and four people have been killed by Palestinian violence and terrorism since September 2000. In 2001, there were eighty-five deaths due to terror attacks; in 2002, two-hundred twenty deaths; 2003, one-hundred forty deaths; and in 2004, fifty-five deaths. But by 2004, there marked a steady decline -- mostly due to Israel's counter-terrorism strategy. On March 29, 2002, Israel launched Operation Defensive.... (Read Full Article)