Ya’akov Katz is back to discuss the wild week we’ve had here. I caught up with him on Wednesday evening, Israel time, and had intended to focus on the resignation the day before of IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi. But, of course, we spent more than half our time discussing the terrible hostage deal that we agree was absolutely necessary. And we get into how the deal might unfold in the coming weeks. Then, we got into the Halevi thing. Herzi Halevi was in office on October 7, and shortly after the disaster, he said he was responsible and would resign. Soon. More recently he had indicated he’d step down in June, but that was suddenly moved up. It’s no secret that PM Netanyahu wants Halevi gone—and he has made it very clear that he assigns blame for October 7 to the IDF and Shin Bet. When it comes to his own government and the fact that he is the man at the top of the pyramid, Netanyahu balks. So. Halevi is going—but not until the first stage of this hostage deal is done. Minister of Defense, Yisrael Katz, is regarded as Bibi’s guy. He is also not taken terribly seriously by the defense establishment. That may or may not be fair, but it is a fact. The replacement for Halevi will be chosen by Netanyahu. Not Katz. And that person faces an unenviable challenge: restore public trust in the IDF and take a hard look at the army’s entrenched bureaucracy and how that needs to be revamped. As always, Yaakov and I spare no one and seem to agree on pretty much everything this week! Listen to the podcast here or watch on YouTube….link below.

State of Tel Aviv is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

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.

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.stateoftelaviv.com/subscribe

S3 E4. Israel’s Bad but Critical Hostage Deal