Former Jerusalem Post editor-in-chief Yaakov Katz joins Noam Dworman and Dan Naturman to dissect the failures behind October 7, the moral and strategic crises of modern Israel, and the political culture that allowed catastrophe to take root. Based on his new book While Israel Slept, Katz lays out how a nation of elite intelligence, defense technology, and Iron Dome confidence was blindsided by its own assumptions.

Buy Yaakov Katz’s book — While Israel Slept — on Amazon: http://bit.ly/4o3b7XE

He addresses:

Whether Israeli journalism should expose government failures during wartime

The growing rift between American and Israeli public opinion

Why Israel misread Hamas for decades

Netanyahu’s political survival and the myth that Israel “built up” Hamas

How AI is used in IDF targeting and whether it saves or costs civilian lives

The accusations of an Israeli “stand-down” on October 7

The uncomfortable moral math of urban warfare in Gaza

Chapters:

00:00 – Introduction

01:10 – Journalism in wartime Israel: Patriotism vs Accountability

04:40 – Why Israelis didn’t see Gaza’s destruction

08:10 – Media bias and trauma after October 7

13:00 – AI targeting, 972 Magazine, and how truth gets distorted

21:10 – “While Israel Slept” – The Premise and Title’s Origin

22:30 – Israel’s strategic blindness: Containment and Complacency

26:50 – The myth that Israel “wanted” Hamas

30:00 – Netanyahu, Qatar, and paying for quiet

34:00 – The failure of imagination on October 6

35:10 – Hezbollah and the deterrence paradox

38:20 – Can Israel learn from this? Preemption vs Occupation

40:50 – The Right, the Left, and the Gray Zone

44:00 – Morality, civilian deaths, and propaganda math

50:00 – The antisemitism question and media narratives

56:00 – Netanyahu’s communications failure

57:20 – Conspiracy theories: the “stand-down” myth

01:00:00 – Friendly fire and the Hannibal Directive

01:03:20 – Why Israel must investigate itself

01:06:10 – Closing thoughts and the future of Israeli democracy