Shortly before Shabbat began, many Israelis received this “Shabbat Shalom” message from an IAF pilot, flying high in the skies above Iran. Though Shabbat is now behind us, because so many Israelis were moved by the message so that it went viral on Israeli social media, we’re sharing it with you. There’s something deeply Israeli about it many different ways.
Another Israeli pilot made news this week when his Israeli F-35I shot down an Iranian Yak-130 over Tehran, marking the first time in some 40 years that the Israeli Air Force engaged in air-to-air combat with a manned aircraft. The Yak-130 is a training plane, rather old and is equipped with none of the new technology that the F-35 has, but since this was the first time that an F-35 of any air force had ever downed a manned fighter in combat, it made news.
Not surprisingly, that video, released by the IDF, also went viral.
Tragically, we’re also back to the news being led by news of fallen soldiers. Two soldiers were killed in Lebanon today. The name of one, as of this writing, has not yet been released by the censor, but the IDF has announced the death of 39-year-old Staff Sergeant Maher Khtar, of the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights.
May his memory be a blessing.
On day nine of this war, Yaakov Katz seemed the perfect person to speak to about where we are and where we might be headed. I asked Yaakov to discuss five different issues, in this order:
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Just over a week in, how are we doing? What have we accomplished, both in Iran and in Lebanon?
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How long could this go on? A few days into the war, we were worried that Donald Trump might lose patience and pull the plug. But that now seems unlikely, at least for now. So, are we still going to be at war when we sit down for the Seder?
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What’s the offramp? Israel is never going to destroy all its targets in Iran or Lebanon, and neither will the United States. At what point will both of these nations decide that they’ve done enough? Is there a specific event or accomplishment to which we can point?
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Yes, things are going well, but war is unpredictable, as are geopolitics. What could go wrong, not in the sense of a plane crashing or a pilot being captured, but much more globally? Are there scenarios regarding Israel’s future that should concern us?
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What kind of “new Middle East” might emerge from this latest “war within a war within a war”? Will Israel end up being the hegemon of the region?
Not surprisingly, we left our conversation with Yaakov both much more informed and deeply inspired, and with our thanks to Yaakov for his time and insight, are delighted to share today’s podcast with you.
Yaakov Katz is an Israeli-American author and journalist and a senior fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute in Jerusalem. Between 2016 and 2023, Yaakov was editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post where he continues to write a popular weekly column.
Yaakov also writes a regular column for Newsweek and the Jewish Chronicle, is the host of the JPPI weekly podcast and appears regularly on CNN and BBC as an analyst on Israel affairs.
Yaakov is the author of four books – “Shadow Strike – Inside Israel’s Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power”, “Weapon Wizards – How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower”, “Israel vs. Iran: The Shadow War” and “While Israel Slept”.
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.
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