The war in Gaza obligates all of us to engage in serious soul searching and take stock of our actions. This is certainly true for the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), as the war has shaken one of the foundations of our existence in Israel, namely, security. It will likely take some time for the State of Israel to succeed in restoring its sense of security as well as its actual security, and to construct a new security concept that will guarantee our strength in the future.

Consequently, we deliberated whether and how it would be appropriate to hold the INSS Annual Conference, which over the past 17 years has become a venue for meetings and fruitful debates among political decision makers, heads of the security establishment, diplomats, strategists, and policy experts from Israel and abroad about issues that lie at the heart of Israel’s national security agenda. We feel that precisely at a time like this, there is an acute need to probe the many issues that the war has brought to the fore, and in an open debate attempt to glean insights that will help build sound security, political, and societal policies for the future. Therefore, we decided to hold the conference on March 7, 2024, exactly five months after the start of the war, in the hope that by then we may have a better perspective on what happened, on the developments that took place since, and the necessary steps for the future.

We look forward to seeing you at the conference, and invite you to be a partner in this important analytical process.

Best wishes,

Prof. Manuel Trajtenberg

Executive Director, INSS