This unit focuses on the wars and major terrorist events that have been a part of Israel’s history.
The main goals are:
• To give a sense of the continuity and frequency of ongoing terrorism and wars against Zionists and Israel, to allow students to be able to put these incidents in chronological order, and to differentiate between the various terrorist attacks and wars.
• To emphasize that Israel’s military actions have always been defensive, that neither Zionists nor Israelis have sought wars. The Rabin quote at the top of the page captures Israeli attitudes.
• To illuminate how Israel’s enemies have changed yet remained similar. |
1. What were the major causes for each of the “wars and terrorism”? Did those causes for war change over time?
2. Israel has claimed that its wars were “defensive” wars against aggression by Arab states or terrorist groups.
Under what circumstances do you think a nation has a right to go to war? What steps would you take before choosing the option of war?
3. Tension soared as Israel tried to decide whether to launch a preemptive attack in 1967, and General Rabin himself suffered a temporary breakdown as he agonized about whether to give the okay to the preemptive attack. What would you have done? What factors would you have considered in making that decision? Looking back, did Israel make the right decision to launch a preemptive attack in 1967?
4. When did the Haganah originate and what was its original purpose? What options did Jews in the Palestine Mandate have to respond to the terrorism of 1920-1939?
5. Return to the maps in Israel 101 (pages 6 and 7), and discuss how each of these wars/chains of terrorist events
affected Israel’s borders. How much did relinquishing land that it had conquered affect how Israel and its neighbors got along?
6. Why is the 1948 War called Israel’s War of Independence? Do you think Ben-Gurion and other Zionist leaders made the right decision in declaring a state, even though they knew it would lead to five Arab nations attacking them? (It is interesting that when the leaders were making their decision, Ben-Gurion asked his chief of staff if Israel could win a war if all these Arab states attacked. The answer: If we can put together very quickly the arms we’ve been forced to hide, if we can get more arms and material from Europe, if we can get more manpower (presumably from refugees finally able to come), then we have a 50-50 chance of winning.) What
decision would you have made under such circumstances? Why do you think Ben-Gurion made the decision he did? What were the pros and cons?
7. What nations helped Israel in each of its wars? What nations allied against Israel? What role did the UN play?
8. Israel has not had a major war with another Arab state since 1973. Subsequently, Israel’s conflicts have been
with terrorist organizations like the PLO, Hamas, and Hezbollah. However, these groups have received support
from Arab states. How has this shift affected Israel’s strategic options and image in the world?
9. What do you think would have happened to Israel if it had lost any of these wars? What were its enemies
intentions? |
