Eric and Eliot welcome Yaakov Katz, former Editor-in-Chief of the Jerusalem Post and co-author of While Israel Slept: How Hamas Surprised the Most Powerful Military in the Middle East. They discuss Israel's persistent misjudgments of Hamas and lack of preparedness for October 7, highlighting the impact of Israel's 2005 withdrawal from Gaza and the absence of on-the-ground intelligence that blinded Israel to Hamas’s plans. They also note the ongoing traumatic impact on the IDF, the danger of overlearning lessons from October 7, Israel's shortcomings in telling its own story, and the contrast between Israel's failures in Gaza and its successes in Lebanon and in the 12-Day War with Iran.

While Israel Slept: How Hamas Surprised the Most Powerful Military in the Middle East: https://a.co/d/iT0D7QD

Shadow Strike: Inside Israel's Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power: https://a.co/d/62dAcdi

Shield of the Republic is a Bulwark podcast co-sponsored by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia.