Based on an article in last Sunday’s New York Times of a leaked audiotape of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Israel has plenty of reasons to be concerned. In this audiotape, Mr. Zarif stated that Former Secretary of State John Kerry informed him that Israel had attacked Iranian interests in Syria at least 200 times, to his astonishment.
 
If true, this constitutes a profound betrayal of a long-held and deeply trusted ally of the United States. How is this regarded in Israel? Does this just confirm the Israeli military philosophy that the Israelis have no one to depend on but themselves? And when Israel does do what it feels it must to guard itself against an existential security threat, does this in turn risk further alienation from the Biden administration who is intent on getting back to a deal with Iran?

Here to discuss this is Professor Efraim Inbar.

About Prof. Efraim Inbar:

Prof. Efraim Inbar is President of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security.  He was a Professor in Political Studies at Bar-Ilan University and the founding Director of the Begin-Sadat (BESA) Center for Strategic Studies.

Inbar’s area of specialization is Middle Eastern strategic issues with a special interest in the politics and strategy of Israeli national security. He has written over 100 scholarly articles and authored five books: Outcast Countries in the World Community (1985), War and Peace in Israeli Politics (1991), Labor Party Positions on National Security (1991), Rabin and Israel’s National Security (1999), The Israeli-Turkish Entente (2001), and Israel's National Security: Issues and Challenges since the Yom Kippur War (2008). He has also edited 14 collections of articles.

Inbar earned his B.A. in Political Science and English Literature at Hebrew University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of Chicago. He served as visiting professor at Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, Boston University, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. and the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. He was also appointed as a Manfred Warner NATO Fellow and was the recipient of an Onassis Fellowship.

Prof. Inbar was a member of the Political Strategic Comittee of the National Planning Council and the Chair of the Committee for the National Security Curriculum at the Ministry of Education. He served on the Academic Committee of the History Department of the IDF and as the President of the Israel Association of International Studies. He is widely quoted in the international press.

He served in the IDF as a paratrooper.