ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on three aspects of the issue: the general policy of using military force, limits on freedom of action in using military force, and Israel's policy in the use of military force. Military planners in a state such as Israel live between worlds. The defender resorts to a defensive strategy in order to prevent the aggressor from liquidating it or forcing upon it certain conditions, and to this end the defender must use military force in order to eliminate military threats. The Soviet Union has the capacity to implement a global military strategy, with bases or naval services in the Caribbean Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean, the Red Sea and the Bab el Mandeb Straits, the Indian Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean. Israel's strategy in using military force has normally been a "defensive strategy" intended to protect its existence, integrity, security, and sovereign rights.
