ABSTRACT
Even in the heyday of its status as a ‘people’s army’, the Israel Defense Force’s (IDF) primary functions were always military in the conventional sense. The domestic purposes that Ben-Gurion assigned to the Force as an agency of nation-building, although always prominent, remained decidedly secondary. As laid down in its mission statements, the IDF’s principal tasks were to deter and overcome external threats to Israel’s security and to provide the government with whatever military force was deemed necessary for the defense and enhancement of national aims.
