The Chief of Staff: "An investigation requires time and an emotional place, that's why we waited until now" / IDF Spokesman
Ilan Kafir says that he realized he was going to write a book about the October 7 war, the very day it broke out.
He is a senior journalist, biographer and researcher of the Israeli wars.
Now, in his home in Ramat Hasharon, he is already holding one of the first copies of the book, probably the first book about the war.
"That Saturday morning, when I see on TV photos of terrorists dancing on our tank, and realize that this is not a propaganda film when Danny Kushmaro on the screen asks 'And where is the IDF?'
I call a friend, an Air Force veteran.
I ask him where the helicopters are and he tells me, 'There are helicopters in the air and no one to give them targets.''
So I say to myself, this is the next book."
The 80-year-old Kafir, whose name, sometimes along with others, appears on no less than 17 books, most of them on military and war matters, admits that he too was surprised. A little earlier, his previous book, on exercise, was published The great deception led by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat at the start of the Yom Kippur War, in which the Egyptian army went from a routine military exercise to an all-out attack in a matter of minutes. "Honestly, I thought that was how I finished writing books about wars," he reveals. The
new book, "Gaza Division Conquered" published by "Yediot "Books" was written on the move. The 53 chapters spread over about 270 pages include a chapter dedicated to the inferno on the one hand and the moments of heroism on the other hand in each of the occupied Otaf settlements, chapters to some of the central units that operated and to some of the prominent operations as well as a chapter dedicated to the fallen. In addition, alongside the difficult events of October 7 And the days that followed - the most human blow suffered by Israel since 1948 - "Gaza Division Occupied" describes and analyzes the events leading up to the terrible Shabbat: the intelligence blindness, the operational failures, the cultivation of Hamas and the underestimation of its operational capabilities, the political failure of the government and its leader. All of these Alongside the heroic stories of fighters and civilians who stood alone against hundreds of terrorists who invaded settlements and strongholds.
He reveals in depth the "chess game" in the Sinwar-Netanyahu relationship, as well as the complex Biden-Netanyahu relationship.
Ilan Kafir and his new book/Reuven Castro
When asked if he didn't think it was too early to publish such a book, when the end of the war was not yet in sight, he replied: "No. There is no need to wait. The public wants to know what happened and deserves to know what happened now. I am not summarizing the war. I I hope this book will have a continuation in the second and third editions. There will be many more dramas. This war will be long. Much longer than the war of liberation. Hamas will be dealt a very hard blow, but Israel will also absorb. Politically, Israel will be a country with an inferior image, very problematic, with the fear of losing a son Our great ally, the United States. Look at the cover of the Economist magazine this month with some rickety pole in the desert with a torn flag of Israel waving in the wind and the big headline 'Israel Alone'. All because of mistakes we are already seeing and they are causing the war to continue. The Prime Minister wants the war This will continue. It serves him. We will rule the Gaza Strip with permanent forces."
More in Walla!
The treatment that prolongs the lives of lung cancer patients
In collaboration with the Israeli lung cancer association
"Israel will be a country with an inferior image."
Cover of "The Economist" newspaper, this week/official website, no
His greatest fear is entanglement, whether like the entanglement of the Americans in Somalia, which began with the downing of a helicopter and then another one as he remembers from the movie "Black Hawk Down", or whether like that of Stalin, in Berlin.
"We must bring an end to this war that should have been finished a long time ago, in a quarter of the time. I talk to the most senior commanders who tell me that sometimes they no longer have goals."
He mentions in the book that whoever coined the phrase "go to Gaza" did not mean anything good: "Go to hell, go to hell, or go to Gaza - we were you. There is no place more cursed than this narrow strip that no one in the world wanted, ever. Not her and not the millions of its residents."
"In a state of political chaos and in the absence of political decisions, when in the near and far horizon no breakthrough in the return of the abductees is visible, public anger will erupt sooner or later," states Kafir in his book, "in the background, the pulse of the protest against Netanyahu and his government is getting stronger, and it seems that the protest against the coup will pale in comparison The reservists will return, the families of the abductees, the bereaved parents and the general public - all of them will march a million people and more across the country under the slogan: 'Go'."
"The program was called 'Tel Aviv-Dimona'."
Terrorists who took over an IDF tank, on October 7/Flash 90, Abed Rahim Khatib
"On the political and military level, we will say goodbye to a lot of figures we knew and even appreciated very much," says Ilan Kafir, "Netanyahu had a saying that I heard from him personally: he had the image that if you were the captain of the Titanic and you led her into a collision with the iceberg while the orchestra on board was playing, then you would never get More ships to command. Netanyahu is the captain of the Titanic. He established a policy. He created a concept. He got us into the worst disaster
. to go because of his responsibility to the Gaza division, even though it performed exceptionally well in the war. The commander of the division that was then captured the day after unfortunately will pay the price, the intelligence officer of the division who neglected it, too. The head of the Shin Bet - Gaboli, he has extenuating circumstances because it was not before him Full picture and he was the only one who nevertheless took an operational step and sent 'Tequila' to wrap up.
The head of AMN is going home. In general, a lot of people in intelligence will have to go. The current commander of 8200 can go and pack up. The Minister of Defense remains because his ministerial responsibility does not reach the rule of impeachment. If we were in football he would get a yellow card.
"I only have praise for the Mag" Dim and
the police officers
who are all exceptional, some of them deserve praise, also for their creativity, and you can see it now in the activity in Shifa.
caused a tragedy," he adds and explains: "People who tried to escape from Nova Barai's party encountered roadblocks that did not allow any vehicle from the south to move north, they turned back and some of them encountered Hamas ambushes. Their second - to attack Tel Aviv in the afternoon. After all, the plan was called 'Tel Aviv-Dimona'. For them, these are the most attractive targets. I will not go into detail about Dimona. But they intended to reach two central targets in Tel Aviv and carry out a mass massacre there."
What were the goals?
"I can't say, the censors disallowed that for me."
More on the same topic:
Default October 7
War of Iron Swords