The “peace for land” formula, created out of a feeling of power following the Six Day War victory and the desire to end the conflict with our neighbours, turned into a policy of retreat dictated by an unjustified feeling of weakness over the last two decades. This is one of the major observations found in The Long Short Way, written by Moshe ‘Bogie’ Yaalon, IDF Chief of Staff in 2002-2005.

Who is better prepared to confront challenges and defend principles in a volatile modern world? Those with strong national, religious, ethnic, or tribal identities who accept democracy, or democrats who renounce identity as a kind of divisive prejudice? Natan Sharansky, building on his personal experience as a dissident, argues that valueless cosmopolitanism, even in democracies, is dangerous. Better to have hostile identities framed by democracy than democrats indifferent to identity.