Israeli National Security Council
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The National Security Council (NSC) ( he, המטה לביטחון לאומי ''HaMateh leBitachon Leumi'') is Israel's central body for coordination, integration, analysis and monitoring in the field of national security and is the staff forum on national security for the Israeli Prime Minister and Government. However, national security decisions typically made by
national security council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a n ...
s in other countries are handled by the Security Cabinet. The Council draws its authority from the
government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...
and operates according to guidelines from the Prime Minister. The NSC was established in 1999 by the office of
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
Binyamin Netanyahu Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (; ; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of ...
following Government Resolution 4889, in the framework of drawing lessons from the
Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by E ...
. Its responsibilities were anchored in law starting in July 2008, partly as a response to the Second Lebanon War.


Basis for operations

Article 7 of the Government Law of 2001 states that "the Government will have a staff, established by the Prime Minister, to provide professional consulting in the fields of national security; the Prime Minister is authorized to entrust the staff with additional consulting fields." Government Resolution 4889, dated March 7 1999, established the National Security Council. The Government resolution specified, among others, that: * The objective of the NSC is to serve as a centralized advisory body to the Prime Minister and the Government regarding issues of national security. * The NSC derives its authority from the Government and operates in accordance with directives issued by the Prime Minister.


Roles

The National Security Council is the Prime Minister's and the Government's staff forum in the field of national security. The roles of the NSC, as stipulated in the Government Resolution, are as follows: * To hold senior council forums for the Prime Minister and the Government regarding issues of national security. * To coordinate integrative assessments of processes and trends in all aspects of national security. * To direct integrative staff operations between offices and authorities dealing with national security in order to increase coordination and integration between them. * To prepare for deliberations by the government, ministerial committee for national security and the Prime Minister. * To advise the government on policies relating to national security. * To plan, based on a long-term perspective, national security components, with the assistance of existing planning bodies in State offices and organizations dealing with national security. * To follow up and provide updates regarding activities and implementation of resolutions related to national security. * To maintain coordination and cooperation with parallel national security authorities in selected countries. Among the Council's functions are: strategic advisement to the Prime Minister, offering security recommendations to the government, joint direction and coordinations of the
security" \n\n\nsecurity.txt is a proposed standard for websites' security information that is meant to allow security researchers to easily report security vulnerabilities. The standard prescribes a text file called \"security.txt\" in the well known locat ...
arms as well as inspection and supervision of decision-making related to the security bodies. Other functions include long-term planning of security approaches, and maintaining cooperative and coordinative relations with the national security elements of selected countries. The NSC also maintains high-level diplomatic communications with world powers.


Major areas of activity

The NSC formulates alternatives for Israeli policy on the political process and relationships with: *
Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
countries, especially with the
Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
s,
Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus lie ...
,
Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
,
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...
,
Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
and other countries. * Great powers: the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
,
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
,
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
,
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
and
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
. * Key countries:
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...
and
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
* Major international organizations such as the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...
,
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...
and
OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate ...
. The Council has engaged in issues such as the planning of the West Bank barrier and supervision over its implementation, the Gaza disengagement plan, and the agreement with
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...
over the
Philadelphi Route The Philadelphi Route, also called Philadelphi Corridor, refers to a narrow strip of land, 14 km (8.699 miles) in length, situated along the border between Gaza Strip and Egypt. Under the provisions of the Egypt–Israel peace treaty of 1979 ...
. A new area of activity relates to energy issues, based on a comprehensive national security perspective, including: * Energy providers * Strategic reserves * Source combination


Structure

The National Security Council is part of the Prime Minister's Office and reports to him directly about issues related to national security. The Council comprises three wings: Security Policy, Foreign Policy, and the Counter-Terrorism Bureau. It has two advisors: legal and economic. Since the end of December 2006, the office of the head of the NSC and the staff of the Foreign Policy Division, the Security Division and the Legal Advisor have been located in the Prime Minister's building in Jerusalem. The remaining staff of the NSC and the Counter-Terrorism Bureau headquarters are located at the NSC facility in Ramat Hasharon. The Council's work is considered secret, and is done outside the public's eye. Its authority is vague and the Prime Minister is not obligated to accept its recommendations, unlike with those of the
Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
, for example.


Head

The first National Security Advisor and Head of NSC was General (in reserve)
David Ivri David Elkana Ivry ( he, דוד אלקנה עברי; born 1934) is a Major General (retired) in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). He was the Israeli Ambassador to the United States from 2000 to 2002, and the ninth commander of the Israeli Air Fo ...
. The current Head is
Tzachi Hanegbi Tzachi Hanegbi ( he, צַחִי הַנֶּגְבִּי, born 26 February 1957) is an Israeli politician and national security expert. A member of Likud, Hanegbi previously served as Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Minister of Re ...
. Historical heads were: *
David Ivri David Elkana Ivry ( he, דוד אלקנה עברי; born 1934) is a Major General (retired) in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). He was the Israeli Ambassador to the United States from 2000 to 2002, and the ninth commander of the Israeli Air Fo ...
, 1999–2000 * Gideon Sheffer, (Acting) 2000 * Uzi Dayan, 2000–2002 * Ephraim Halevi, 2002–2003 * Israel Michaeli, 2003–2004 *
Giora Eiland Giora Eiland ( he, גיורא איילנד; born 1952 in moshav Kfar Hess) is Major General (ret.) Israel Defense Forces. Eiland is a former head of the Israeli National Security Council. After his retirement from the public sector, he was a seni ...
, 2004–2006 * Ilan Mizrahi, 2006–2007 * Dani Arditi, (Acting) 2007–2009 * Uzi Arad, 2009–2011 *
Yaakov Amidror Yaakov Amidror ( he, יעקב עמידרור; born 15 May 1948) is a former major general and National Security Advisor of Israel, and was also the head of the Research Department of Israeli military intelligence. Today, he is the Anne and Greg Ro ...
, 2011–2013 *
Yossi Cohen Yosef "Yossi" Meir Cohen ( he, יוסף מאיר כהן; born 10 September 1961) was the Director of Mossad, the national intelligence agency of Israel. Early life Cohen was born in Jerusalem to a religious family and grew up in the Katamon nei ...
, 2013–2016 * Yaakov Nagel, (Acting) 2016–2017 * Eytan Ben-David, 2017 * Meir Ben-Shabbat, 2017–2021 * Eyal Hulata, 2021–2023 *
Tzachi Hanegbi Tzachi Hanegbi ( he, צַחִי הַנֶּגְבִּי, born 26 February 1957) is an Israeli politician and national security expert. A member of Likud, Hanegbi previously served as Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Minister of Re ...
, 2023-present


Foreign Policy Wing

The National Security Council's Foreign Policy Division is in charge of planning, integration and coordination of policy on major issues of national security. The Division's roles: * Formulation of political situation assessments * Formulation of recommendations for Israeli policies * Conducting strategic dialogs with National Security Councils of leading countries


References


External links


Official website of the NSC
{{Israel topics Israeli Security Forces National security councils 1999 establishments in Israel