(Christian Science Monitor) Joshua Mitnick - In the last five years, Israel has begun to see the Mediterranean as a strategic arena. As a result, a navy that was once mainly a coast guard has been bulked up with new vessels to protect Israel's gas fields and defend the mainland from rocket attacks. And Israel is cultivating a military, economic, and diplomatic axis with Greece and Cyprus to cooperate on exploiting gas fields. "With America being less assertive and less involved, Israel has to come out with its own strategy" in the eastern Mediterranean, said Jonathan Rynhold, a political science professor at Bar-Ilan University. Eran Lerman, a former international affairs deputy on Israel's National Security Council, noted, "There is a vital need for all of us who are like minded in the eastern Mediterranean to work together."
2016-01-27 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive