Watch Webinar – Israel at War Update 1/9
Israel launched a new wave of air strikes into Gaza in response to Hamas firing three rockets towards the Gaza envelope. On the Northern Front, the IDF is looking to extend the 60-day withdrawal timeline of the ceasefire deal due to the slow deployment of the Lebanese Armed Forces and dismantling of Hezbollah as part of the ceasefire agreement. Meanwhile, the West Bank continues to remain a threat, with three Israelis tragically murdered on January 6 near the community of Kedumim by Palestinian terrorists who remain at large.
JINSA hosted a situational update on these developments and the wider regional war with JINSA Distinguished Fellow IDF MG (ret.) Yaakov Amidror and JINSA’s Julian and Jenny Josephson Senior Vice President for Israeli Affairs IDF MG (ret.) Yaacov Ayish. The discussion was moderated by JINSA’s Vice President for Policy Blaise Misztal.
IDF MG (ret.) Yaakov Amidror IDF MG (ret.) Yaakov Amidror is a Distinguished Fellow at JINSA’s Gemunder Center for Defense and Strategy. MG Amidror was formerly the National Security Advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as the head of Israel’s National Security Council from 2011-13. MG Amidror served as Commander of IDF Military Colleges, Military Secretary for the Minister of Defense, Director of the Intelligence Analysis Division, and as Intelligence Officer for the Northern Command. |
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IDF MG (ret.) Yaacov Ayish
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Blaise Misztal Blaise Misztal is the Vice President for Policy at JINSA. His research interests include Iran and its nuclear program, U.S.-Turkey relations, countering extremism, and strategic competition. Blaise served as the Executive Director of the Task Force on Extremism in Fragile States, a congressionally mandated project convened by the U.S. Institute of Peace, and Director of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s National Security Program. He has testified before Congress and published widely— including op-eds in the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, New Republic, and Roll Call. |
IDF MG Ayish served in the IDF for 36 years and retired in 2016, concluding an accomplished career during which he attained the rank of Major General. Throughout his distinguished service, he served in core and operational command positions in the IDF ground forces and in senior command and managerial positions in the IDF General Staff. In his last position, General Ayish served for four years as Israel’s Defense and Armed Forces Attaché to the United States in Washington, D.C. MG Ayish was previously the Head of the IDF General Staff Operations Branch where he was responsible for planning and managing the operational activities of the Israeli Defense Forces according to political and strategic guidelines. He was also a member of the IDF General Staff forum, a position that was filled with sensitive and complex managerial challenges and which encompassed multidisciplinary systems and functional dynamism in an era of changes in the characteristics of all the arenas and the army’s activities.