Homeland Security in Israel

Course Overview

Since its creation in 1948, Israel has had to cope with ongoing periods of terrorism punctuated by periods of war. While this has been an unfortunate reality for Israeli citizens, it has enabled the Israeli authorities to develop a wealth of experience in homeland security policies and practices.

This course will focus on a range of preventive and response policies followed by Israel in the context of its counterterrorism and homeland defense policies. After a brief discussion of the nature of the terrorism threat facing the country, the course then focuses on the legal, organizational and strategic environments that affect Israeli policies before moving to discuss some of Israel’s response policies in the context of the response agencies, medical system and the military’s Homefront Command.

Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:

• Display a greater understanding of nature of the threat environment facing Israel.
• Display an understanding of the legal environment within which Israel’s counterterrorism policies occur.
• Display an understanding of the organizational/bureaucratic environment within which Israeli intelligence, military and police agencies operate.
• Display an understanding of the nature of Israeli counterterrorism strategy and be able to evaluate the costs and benefits of Israeli practices within the realm of counterterrorism.
• Display an understanding of the nature of Israeli response policies and the role of the police, EMS service, hospital system and Homefront Command.
• Display an understanding of the approach taken in Israel with respect to communicating with and informing the public during crisis situations.