What if there is never a State Commission of Inquiry into the failures that led to October 7 and the many mistakes made during the war that followed? Will Israel learn the lessons it needs to learn?
Israeli voters are unlikely to get everything they want when a new government is finally cobbled together. We might get a Commission of Inquiry, but no progress on the Haredi draft. We might see progress on the Haredi draft, but at the expense of turning a blind eye to Jewish violence in Judea and Samaria. We might address that violence, but at the cost of Judicial Reform creeping forward once again.
It’s far too early to know.
But if we do indeed get a Commission of Inquiry, what would we learn? A good part of what would come out, I suspect, is now revealed in In the War Room: The Inside Story of Israel’s Fight Against Hamas and the Iranian Axis, by Yonah Jeremy Bob and Elliot Kaufman—two veteran reporters and accomplished authors.
I was stunned by this book.
As much as we’ve heard about the missteps leading up to Hamas’ monstrous attack, there are many errors that haven’t yet been widely reported. What happened hour by hour on the morning of October 7—where the Prime Minister was and wasn’t, which Israeli generals were on the ball and which weren’t, what was understood and what was missed—when all of that is brought together in a riveting narrative like this, it’s impossible not to emerge shaken, with a much deeper understanding of the magnitude of the failure.
Yet we also emerge astounded by the accomplishments of this band of bitter enemies who led Israel from one of its darkest days into days that, if far from perfect, helped to change the geopolitical map of the Middle East.
In the War Room has just been released, and it could not have appeared at a more pivotal moment. We’re delighted to have Yonah Bob back on the podcast to share key insights from the book—and, in doing so, remind us how crucial it is for Israel’s future that the country as a whole begins to absorb what Bob and Kaufman have uncovered.
Yonah Jeremy Bob is the senior military and intelligence analyst as well as the book review editor for The Jerusalem Post.
Hailing originally from Baltimore, Maryland, Yonah has close connections with many Israeli intelligence figures and previously worked in the Israeli military international law division, at the Israeli Embassy to the UN, and in the Israeli Justice Ministry. He is the author of Justice in the West Bank? and Target Tehran: How Israel Is Using Sabotage, Cyberwarfare, Assassination – and Secret Diplomacy – to Stop a Nuclear Iran and Create a New Middle East. He also edited and translated A Raid on the Red Sea, an intelligence thriller whose principal author is Amos Gilboa, a former IDF deputy chief of intelligence.
You can hear more from Yonah in previous podcasts on Israel from the Inside:
The link at the top of this posting will take free subscribers to an excerpted portion of today’s conversation.
For paid subscribers, the link at the top will take you to the full conversation; below, paid subscribers will also find a transcript for those who prefer to read, as always.
During this holiday season, we will be on a slightly reduced publication schedule. Weekly podcasts for paid subscribers will continue to appear as always, but our other regular content will be pared back as we turn our attention to welcoming the New Year—which we pray will bring much better tidings to Israel, our region, and the world at large.
