Day 700 - Yaakov Katz on why Israel was asleep on Oct. 7
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 5 September 2025
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome to The Times of Israel's newest podcast series, Friday Focus. Each Friday, join host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan and diplomatic correspondent Lazar Berman for a deep dive into what's behind the news that spins the globe.
This week, Berman takes up the host role for an in-depth interview with author Yaakov Katz about his new book, "While Israel Slept: How Hamas Surprised the Most Powerful Military in the Middle East," which he co-wrote with Amir Bohbot.
A former military correspondent, Katz served as editor in chief of The Jerusalem Post from 2016-2023, leaving just before the war. Currently a senior fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute in Jerusalem, Katz is the author or co-author of four books.
Katz talks about the ignored "alarm bells" indicating that Hamas was about to launch a major attack prior to October 7, 2023. He speaks about the uncertainty whether Hamas was conducting a drill and how warning signs were disregarded because they didn't fit the paradigm built by Israel around the capabilities of Hamas.
"We were so infatuated, in love with the signal intelligence, the visual intelligence. We knew everything because we had the technology. But while we thought we knew, we did not know what their intentions were, we did not know what they were really planning," said Katz.
Katz delves into the goals of Hamas head Yahye Sinwar and how many he achieved, despite the terrorist group's degradation.
We hear an assessment of the war, almost two years in, as well as who should be running Gaza in the day after.
Friday Focus can be found on all podcast platforms. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.
IMAGE: Yaakov Katz (courtesy)/ Israeli soldiers walk past houses destroyed by Hamas militants in Kibbutz Be'eri, Israel, October 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Times of Israel's Friday Focus. I'm your host, Amanda Borchal Dan, here with |
| 0:07.4 | Laser Barron, our diplomac reporter, who is actually going to be hosting this session with former |
| 0:13.7 | Jerusalem Post editor Yaakov Katz, who is the author of the new book while Israel slept. So, |
| 0:20.5 | Yaakov, a big hello to you. |
| 0:22.8 | Thank you, Amanda. It is such a pleasure to see you. We never worked together at the |
| 0:27.4 | Jerusalem Post when you were the editor between 2016 and 23, leaving just before the war. |
| 0:33.7 | But we did work together about a decade prior, I would say, when you were the |
| 0:38.8 | wee military reporter, and I remember our collaborations fondly. So it's such a pleasure to |
| 0:44.8 | see you here. Now, listeners, a bit of an admission. I was not able to read the book. So Laser |
| 0:51.5 | is going to handle the interview today, and we'll talk about While |
| 0:55.6 | Israel Slept, which is co-authored with Amir Bukh-Boot, and much, much more after the break. |
| 1:07.2 | It was violent. It was awful, of course, but I think that what brought the similarities to my imagination was what happened after, the language that happened after, the reactions that were so unfair. |
| 1:20.1 | But the event itself, you know, the Holocaust was very different. It was very silent. The people who died there died alone. |
| 1:28.6 | Hi, I'm Manya Marcus, host of what came after. This past February, I traveled to Poland to meet |
| 1:34.3 | with several staff members at the Warsaw Office of Elnett, an organization that strengthens |
| 1:39.1 | diplomatic ties between Europe and Israel. Together, we recorded a roundtable discussion about the impact of October 7th in Eastern Europe. |
| 1:47.4 | He said that he's not surprised that this happened, and let's wait and see what's going to happen in Poland |
| 1:53.4 | because he said anti-Semitism was never dead. |
| 1:57.4 | Please join us for this candid and important conversation. |
| 2:00.0 | You can find What Came After |
| 2:01.8 | Wherever you get your podcasts or visit us online at what came after.com. And we're back. I'm |
| 2:13.8 | Amanda Borschelle Dan here with our diplomatic correspondent, Laser Bearman, and author |
... |
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