{"id":219039,"date":"2026-09-07T22:49:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T22:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/219039\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T22:49:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T22:49:16","slug":"inside-israels-war-room-of-rivals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/219039\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Israel\u2019s \u2018war room\u2019 of rivals"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThere are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen,\u201d Vladimir Lenin allegedly said. In the Middle East, entire centuries have effectively unfolded since Hamas and other Iranian-backed terror groups invaded Israel<\/a> on Oct. 7<\/a>, 2023, and sparked a war that forever altered both the region and the world itself.<\/p>\n

In their new book, In the War Room: The Inside Story of Israel\u2019s Fight Against Hamas and the Iranian Axis, authors<\/a> Yonah Jeremy Bob and Elliot Kaufman examine what is arguably Israel\u2019s most personal war to date.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Israel is no stranger to war. Indeed, the Jewish state\u2019s rebirth in 1948 was marked by gunfire and invasion by multiple armies. Israel has had to fight no fewer than a dozen conflicts since, each of varying intensity.\u00a0Many have been short. Israel\u2019s 22-day-long Operation Cast Lead against Hamas<\/a> in 2008, or the 34-day war against Hezbollah in 2006, are representative of this.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The brevity of these conflicts reflects an important fact: Israel is a small country, both in population and size, and its military is reliant on reservists. Simply put, it can\u2019t afford to fight wars of long duration. The costs, economic and otherwise, are too high. Or so it has long been thought.<\/p>\n

But the past is not always a prologue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s latest war has been its most taxing in half a century. And the rules of the game have been rewritten.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What was initially known as the October 7 War or the Simchat Torah War has morphed into a series of wars that have stretched on for nearly three years. A war against Hamas, Iran\u2019s foremost proxy in Gaza, eventually expanded into a war against the Islamic Republic itself.<\/p>\n

Occupants of the Oval Office have changed. Israel has eliminated so many top leaders of Hezbollah, Hamas, and Iran that it\u2019s difficult for even the most astute analyst to keep track. But through it all, one man has continued to hold the reins of power.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a> is a political survivor par excellence. A saying, popular among pollsters and prognosticators alike, advises to \u201cnever count Bibi out.\u201d It\u2019s a smart bit of advice.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s longest-serving prime minister has overseen the war, from its frightful beginnings in the early morning hours of Oct. 7 until today.<\/p>\n

But Netanyahu has often faced severe constraints, as In the War Room ably documents.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu, the head of a parliamentary democracy, has contended with a real team of rivals, one that was often composed of political opponents both from the past and the future.\u00a0Moreover, Israel is also reliant on good relations with great powers, America foremost among them.<\/p>\n

If, as Wiliam Tecumseh Sherman famously said, \u201cwar is all hell,\u201d waging war with such a complicated backdrop must be another type of torture all together.<\/p>\n

Other books have been published telling the story of the tragedy of Oct. 7 and Israel\u2019s response. But In the War Room is arguably the first work to offer a real behind the scenes account of decision making at the highest levels of government.<\/p>\n

The picture that emerges is suitably complicated. Those looking to bash or cheer Bibi, Israel, Donald Trump, or Joe Biden are sure to be disappointed. The authors are not looking to score points.<\/p>\n

And far from being the reckless warmonger that the United Nations, Hamas, and Tucker Carlson portray him to be, Netanyahu is shown to be extraordinarily cautious. Bibi, it is clear, can and will gamble, but he\u2019s going to do his homework before he bets the house.<\/p>\n

For longtime observers of Israel, this is no surprise, but Bibi\u2019s caution, particularly in the war\u2019s opening stages, is noteworthy. The authors carefully weigh the costs of that caution. Inaction, after all, can have consequences of its own.<\/p>\n

Kaufman and Bob chronicle Netanyahu\u2019s transformation and travails as a war leader, from his testy relationship with Yoav Gallant, the country\u2019s former defense minister, to his battles with the Biden administration<\/a> over Israel\u2019s response to the worst slaughter of Jewish civilians since the Holocaust.<\/p>\n

Kaufman and Bob interviewed dozens of leading U.S. and Israeli figures, and it shows. Yet it is also clear that they weren\u2019t led around by their many sources.<\/p>\n

Readers will benefit from both their access and their dispassionate approach. In the War Room bristles with revelations and insider information. Those looking for juicy tidbits and fly-on-the-wall anecdotes will not be disappointed.<\/p>\n

SEAN DURNS: BRINGING THE MIDDLE EAST TO A BOIL<\/a><\/p>\n

The authors provide revelatory information about Israel\u2019s pager operation against Hezbollah, the strikes on Iran\u2019s nuclear program, Washington\u2019s pressure on Jerusalem, and much else. This is the most well-rounded and well-balanced portrait of the war to date.<\/p>\n

As Dwight Eisenhower remarked, \u201cEvery war will astonish you.\u201d In Israel, that much hasn\u2019t changed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThere are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen,\u201d Vladimir Lenin allegedly said. In…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[16469],"tags":[3462,244,7860,2585,34,243,3461,520,185],"class_list":["post-219039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-ali-khamenei","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-book-reviews","tag-hamas","tag-iran","tag-israel","tag-joe-biden","tag-trump-administration","tag-war"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/117232203505927082","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}