It is great to have Ya’akov Katz back from his holiday in the Canadian wilderness. He is just in time to help unpack and decipher the political chaos that has intensified in Israel in recent weeks.
In fact, this past week may have been one of the most consequential since October 7 in Israel. As we begin the countdown to elections on October 27 a very harsh reality is taking shape.
We begin by paying tribute to Senator Lindsay Graham z”l, touch on the latest escalation in the conflict between Iran and America and then move to the main event: the pending Israeli elections and the mess that PM Benjamin Netanyahu has made of Israel.
We are led by a 76-year-old man who seems incapable of relinquishing power. Bibi has led an unprecedented blitz of legislation that was jammed through the Knesset in the last two weeks. The flurry of laws further empowers the ultra-orthodox haredim and other extremists who constitute the coalition government. Netanyahu has sold out the majority; the Israelis who work, pay taxes, and serve in the army. He has put the IDF in an untenable position. The demands his government places on the military are beyond excessive. The IDF Chief of Staff has been warning for months that they are unable to properly defend the state and the people. But Netanyahu is quite prepared to court that risk in order to stay in power. He has acceded to outright political extortion to appease the haredim, while enraging everyone else.
We continue to look at how the election playing field is shaping up and who may be the main individuals and parties leading up to October 27. Never before has more been at stake.
Ya’akov and I get into what is a profound betrayal by the Prime Minister of Israel’s national values in order to further his partisan interests. And, of course, his personal goals. If you missed it yesterday you might want to read the Wrap that we published which gets into more detail about the shenanigans in the Knesset of the last two weeks and how imperiled is democracy in Israel. We’ve lost our way. This election is critical for re-calibrating everything in this country. If we don’t….
Just this morning, Ya’akov Katz’s weekly column in the Jerusalem Post further addressed the issues we discuss in the pod. Well worth reading. The link is below:
Israel’s government knew the risks of haredi draft evasion – and ignored them - opinion
Leadership is supposed to be about making difficult decisions for the good of the country, even when they carry political costs. What we saw this week is the opposite.
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Yaakov Katz is an Israeli-American author and journalist. Between 2016 and 2023, Yaakov was editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post where he continues to write a popular weekly column.
He is the author of three books: “Shadow Strike – Inside Israel’s Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power”, “Weapon Wizards—How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower” and “Israel vs. Iran: The Shadow War.”
Prior to taking up the role of editor-in-chief, Yaakov served for two years as a senior policy adviser to Naftali Bennett during his tenure as Israel’s Minister of Economy and Minister of Diaspora Affairs.
In 2013, Yaakov was one of 12 international fellows to spend a year at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.
Originally from Chicago, Yaakov has a law degree from Bar Ilan University. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife Chaya and their four children.
“Crisply written... draws on excellent sources within Israel’s military and intelligence services.” —The Wall Street Journal
A powerful indictment of the political and military decisions that led to October 7
While Israel Slept tells the gripping inside story of how Hamas, Israel’s weakest enemy, succeeded in launching a surprise attack on one of the world’s most powerful militaries. Through a detailed examination of the events leading up to October 7, 2023, the book exposes the intelligence and strategic failures that enabled this devastating invasion. It takes readers back in time, showing how years of complacency, mistaken intelligence analysis, and a misguided policy of containment enabled Hamas to prepare for an assault that Israel did not believe was possible and that would change the Middle East.
The book unveils the dramatic events of the night before the attack, highlighting the cracks in Israel’s military and political leadership. It provides unprecedented details on how key warnings were missed, and how Israel ignored the growing threat from Hamas, believing that the group was weak and deterred. By exposing these failures, While Israel Slept offers a stark, sobering account of how overconfidence and complacency paved the way for disaster, while underscoring the critical lessons Israel must embrace to safeguard its future.
