Elliot Chodoff: Israeli Strategist Discusses the Middle East

By Trevor Durham on March 5, 2016

“I like blatant murderers. They make my job easier. It’s much easier to gage capabilities rather than intentions.”

Elliot Chodoff, a famed political and military analyst, spoke at Florida State to an audience of various organizations and creeds. The event was sponsored by Hillel, R.O.T.C., and Noles for Israel. They brought Chodoff to inform students on Israeli-Palestine relations, military thought and strategy in the Middle East, and to learn about his contributions to the Israeli Defense Forces (I.D.F.) as the Deputy Chief of Staff for the Northern forces.

Chodoff didn’t disappoint- his controversial lecture touched on the various terrorist sects of the world, the successes and failures of the US involvement, Russian history and conquest, all the way to grading the 9/11 attacks in terms of potential vs. accomplished.

“They get a D+. They could have easily killed two hundred thousand. They got twenty nine hundred.”

Jessica Rotterman and Mikha Feldman, two FSU students, met Chodoff in Israel on a Hasbara Fellowship to Israel, learning to promote Pro-Israeli information on college campuses this winter. They personally invited him to lecture at Florida State, and with the help of the three foundations, funded the speech. They felt a geopolitical speech on the Middle East’s military turmoil would be enriching to Seminoles, especially coming from a renowned I.D.F. Deputy Chief.

Pictured as soldiers of Hezbollah, a major point Chodoff touched.

Chodoff’s responsibilities in the I.D.F. include Lebanon and Syria, along with the basic training every I.D.F. soldier receives, major challenges he is famous for overcoming.

Jessica Rotterman, a sophomore with Noles for Israel, felt that the speech was amazing and a great opportunity for her friends on campus. “I got caught by two ideas that I believe Seminoles should really take as a lesson: It is very important to clarify that there are certain problems in life that we will never understand and the Middle East is one of those. The second is the infamous phrase: ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’ Life isn’t about change. We should learn from the past.”

Chodoff dug into Putin’s politics, citing their invasion in the Crimean peninsula as a major naval strategy. He touched on the Ukraine and Syria, but not without his trademark humor. “Napoleon loved to say ‘Sometimes you do things just to irritate your opponent’. Putin loves Napoleon. Doesn’t care so much about the later years.”

Chodoff finished his talk with a focus on enemies to the United States in our future, ending on Iran’s testing of nuclear weapons that may reach our continent. “They wouldn’t dare? In every case I’ve studied, every case of strategic surprise, the surprised side invariably said: ‘They wouldn’t dare.’ Who dares, wins.”

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