Will Chamberlain talks with Yonah Jeremy Bob, Senior Military Correspondent and Intelligence Analyst at The Jerusalem Post, and Elliot Kaufman, a member of the Wall Street Journal editorial board, about their book, In the War Room: The Inside Story of Israel's Fight Against Hamas and the Iranian Axis.

In this episode:

Yonah explains how Netanyahu, Gallant, and Gantz, three men who could not stand one another, had to run Israel's war together for its first eight to thirteen months.

Elliot argues that Netanyahu, often caricatured as the ultimate Israeli hawk, was one of the most cautious voices in the war room after October 7 and only later became the leader willing to make the riskiest military choices.

Elliot walks through the case Gallant and the IDF high command made for striking Hezbollah first, and how Netanyahu used American opposition, along with the support of Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, to hold that option off.

Yonah reveals that the exploding beepers and walkie-talkies were already part of the war room's debate in October 2023, and that Netanyahu later refused to give Washington a veto over the strike on Hassan Nasrallah.

On Rafah, Elliot recounts how President Biden planted his flag against the operation, then went quiet once Israel evacuated the city's civilians in less than a week.

Yonah credits the IDF with moving well over a million people out of Rafah without mass casualties and reports that Hamas, eager to booby-trap more houses, inadvertently helped the evacuation.

Yonah says Biden was the pro-Israel wing of his own administration until Rafah, and Elliot explains why the Rafah fight ended up strengthening Netanyahu at home.

Yonah explains the dispute between the Mossad and the IDF over when to use the pagers, and says the concern was not imminent discovery but that Iranian inspectors might eventually find them.

Elliot describes the Nasrallah decision, in which Netanyahu warned that American officials would "jump out of their skin" and Washington was told only once Israeli warplanes were in the air.

Elliot reports that Ron Dermer told the war room after meeting Trump in November 2024 that there was an 80 percent chance Trump would allow or join a strike on Iran, and that JD Vance played a crucial role in bringing the United States in.

Yonah recounts how IDF chief Eyal Zamir won over Vance by telling him Israeli aircraft were flying over Fordow unopposed, and argues that nobody drags Donald Trump into anything.

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/counterweight-with-will-chamberlain/id6803321469

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/18jtv7U8cB0IW82qM9xoK8

Yonah Jeremy Bob: The Jerusalem Post · @jeremybob1

Elliot Kaufman: The Wall Street Journal editorial board · @ElliotKaufman6

Will Chamberlain: @willchamberlain

Instagram / TikTok: @counterweightpod

00:00 Cold Open

03:02 How In the War Room came together

06:39 Who ran Israel's war: Netanyahu, Gallant, and Gantz

08:47 Was Netanyahu really the hawk everyone assumes?

10:13 Should Israel have struck Hezbollah first?

19:48 The fight over Rafah

27:52 What was the Biden administration withholding?

32:15 Did Biden himself turn on Israel?

36:27 The pagers and the Iranian inspection risk

38:24 The Nasrallah strike and what to tell Washington

43:13 Did Israel drag Trump into war with Iran?

47:57 How Zamir sold JD Vance before Midnight Hammer

49:02 The UAE warning and the failures before October 7

The Houthis are back in the news, advancing down the Red Sea coast and threatening to take control of Bab-el-Mandeb strait, though they have apparently reassured Washington that they mean no harm to international trade, at least for now.

Zineb Riboua is a research fellow at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East. On Counterweight she explains who the Houthis actually are — Ansar Allah from Saada, a Zaidi movement that is indigenous and still tied to Iran — then walks through this week’s coastal push, the Southern Transitional Council fight with Saudi Arabia, and why Riyadh sees a window now that IRGC support is thinner. She traces the Saudi–UAE split through Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, and Libya; reads the Mecca Pact with Turkey and Pakistan as a deconfliction channel still being written; and argues Trump is unlikely to open a second major front in Yemen while the energy market and midterms dominate. On the Red Sea she spells out why Bab el-Mandeb matters more for Egypt, Europe, and Asia than for U.S. trade — and how Chinese satellite firms supplied Houthi targeting data while Chinese and Russian ships were spared, which flipped the old “include China” playbook. She closes on China’s failed Gulf mediation, the bite of enforced sanctions on Iran’s revolutionary-proxy model, Iraq’s September 30 militia demilitarization test, and Gulf preparations for a much weaker Islamic Republic — including the absence of Arab-capital street defenses of Tehran.

Listen / watch: https://www.counterweightpod.com

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Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/counterweight-with-will-chamberlain/id6803321469

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/18jtv7U8cB0IW82qM9xoK8

Zineb Riboua: @zriboua · Hudson Institute

Will Chamberlain: @willchamberlain Instagram / TikTok: @counterweightpod

Follow Counterweight (twice a week): Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/counterweight-with-will-chamberlain/id6803321469

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Site: https://www.counterweightpod.com

CHAPTERS

0:00 Cold open — Saudis never allowed to win; Houthis steal the aid

2:31 Who the Houthis are — Ansar Allah, Zaidi, indigenous and Iran-tied

5:05 Coastal ops — STC, UAE, and Saudi’s post-Iran window

8:47 Bab el-Mandeb — Iran’s interest and Houthi diversification

10:48 Why the Saudis struggle — Washington never let them finish it

12:35 Saudi–UAE split — Sudan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya

16:47 Mecca Pact — Turkey, Pakistan, and a still-unwritten deal

19:06 Trump, Houthi strikes, and Abraham Accords leverage

21:07 Bab el-Mandeb for trade — Egypt, Europe, Asia; not mainly America

21:58 China armed the crisis — satellite targeting data for the Houthis

24:04 China’s double game with the Gulf and Iran

27:45 Sanctions hit Chinese oil buyers and the shadow banks

30:23 How badly Iran feels the bite — a revolutionary state without cash

33:58 What America should do — energy market, missile shield, proxies

37:15 Iraq’s militia deadline — the Sep 30 test

40:04 Preparing for a weaker Islamic Republic

40:56 No Arab street defense of Iran — and why that matters

43:57 The perpetual counterterror bill vs tying the Gulf to the U.S.

As Israel stands on the brink of another pivotal election, tensions are high and the stakes have never been clearer. In this episode of Counterweight, political analyst Hadar Hazony joins host Will Chamberlain to decode the intricacies of the Israeli political landscape, revealing why the upcoming October 27 elections could reshape the nation’s future.

Hadar Hazony, a leading voice on Israeli politics, dives into the crucial dynamics between the key players: Benjamin Netanyahu, the long-standing Prime Minister from the Likud party, and Gadi Eisenkot, a former IDF chief of staff now running on a centrist platform. Discover how their similar platforms are complicating the race and what it means for voters caught between tradition and change. You’ll uncover the phenomenon of satellite parties and the unique electoral list system that allows smaller factions to influence the balance of power in ways American voters might find surprising.

You'll learn about:

• The critical role of satellite parties in Israeli elections and how they can sway outcomes.
• The implications of proportional representation in shaping party dynamics and coalition-building.
• Insights into Gadi Eisenkot’s rise as a formidable opponent to Netanyahu and what his leadership style represents for the future of Israel.

Listen / watch: https://www.counterweightpod.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@counterweightpod

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/counterweight-with-will-chamberlain/id6803321469

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/18jtv7U8cB0IW82qM9xoK8

Hadar Hazony: @HA Hazony

Will Chamberlain: @willchamberlain

Instagram / TikTok: @counterweightpod

Follow Counterweight (twice a week): Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/counterweight-with-will-chamberlain/id6803321469 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/18jtv7U8cB0IW82qM9xoK8 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@counterweightpod Site: https://www.counterweightpod.com

CHAPTERS

0:00 Cold open — Israelis credit Netanyahu for winning the war

1:23 Oct 27 election — Bibi, Eisenkot, and their political camps

4:16 Why satellite parties exist

7:25 How party lists work

12:07 Joint lists and the electoral threshold

15:48 Gadi Eisenkot — how he became the alternative

23:12 What happened to Naftali Bennett

26:42 The Haredi draft and its salience

31:50 UK West Bank sanctions

35:47 Itamar Ben-Gvir

39:42 Iran — how Israelis read the war

42:25 Greater Israel - real or fake

47:01 Did Netanyahu fund Hamas via Qatar