Yaakov Katz

Yaakov Katz is the former editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post. He previously served for close to a decade as the paper's military reporter and defense analyst. He is the author of "Shadow Strike: Inside Israel's Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power" and co-author of two books: "Weapon Wizards - How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower" (with Amir Bohbot) and "Israel vs. Iran - The Shadow War" (with Yoaz Hendel).

In 2012-2013 he was a fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University and was a faculty member at Harvard's Extension School where he taught an advanced course in journalism.

  Israel Air Force, April 14, 2024.

Israel's paralyzing politics squander historic opportunities across Middle East - opinion

 Attorney-General Gali Baharav Miara attends the swearing-in ceremony of Justice Isaac Amit as president of the Supreme Court, at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem in February 2025.

A-G's judicial overreach is undermining Israel's democracy - opinion

 Leader of the Democrats party Yair Golan leads a faction meeting at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, on February 10, 2025.

Harmful political rhetoric is deepening Israel's cavernous divide – opinion


Excluded from the new Middle East, Israel’s military edge faces danger - opinion

Israel helped shape this new Middle East. But now, it’s not even in the room.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman speaks with U.S. President Donald Trump on the day of the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 13, 2025.

Netanyahu's coalition should take notes from Israel's real leaders: IDF reservists - opinion

The government's continuation of the war without clarifying an end goal is a stain on the country and a slap in the face to reservists.

 IDF reservists joining the "David Brigades," the five new reservist brigades announced by IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, December 17, 2024.

Israel's war in Gaza drags on without a plan, or an exit strategy - opinion

Donald Trump, who, in the absence of our own leadership at home, will help decide Israel’s fate. That’s the price of failing to plan – and of governing by slogans instead of strategy.

 PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a ceremony on Tuesday, the eve of Remembrance Day, at Yad Labanim in Jerusalem. Israel entered the war in Gaza without a real plan, the writer maintains

Israel suffers from a leadership of deflection and evasion - opinion

A national reset will not happen while Yoav Kisch lectures hostage families, Bezalel Smotrich berates the IDF, and Benjamin Netanyahu clings to power through blame.

 PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in the Knesset plenum: Israel needs a national reset, but that will not happen while Smotrich berates the IDF and Netanyahu clings to power through blame, the writer argues.

The Shin Bet leaker is not a hero, the hostages are - opinion

A soldier or reservist who unilaterally decides to leak top-secret documents is not exposing corruption or safeguarding democracy.

 Hostage Rom Braslavski, in a propaganda video published by terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).

Libya as a model: How to stop Iran - and Tehran's path to survival

Iran is vulnerable today like never before - time is running out for it to get its hands on a nuclear deal.

 Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatolla Ali Khamenei stands in front of explosions caused by Israel's retaliation strikes. (Illustrative)

Dysfunction has taken root at the highest levels of Israel's government - opinion

We are a country at war. In moments like this, the nation needs unity and, above all, leadership. What we are getting instead is chaos.

Then-Israel Navy chief, V.-Adm. Eli Sharvit speaks at a ceremony in Haifa Naval Base, northern Israel, March 4, 2020

The erosion of Israel-Egypt relations and what went wrong - opinion

The Camp David Accords once proved that even the bitterest of enemies could sit at the same table. Let’s not allow that lesson to be forgotten.

Anwar Sadat, Jimmy Carter and Menachem Begin at the signing of the Camp David Accords in 1979

Israel’s military decisions: Driven by security or politics? - opinion

The real tragedy is that while attention is diverted—while focus is placed on invisible enemies and deep-state conspiracies—the core challenges remain unresolved.

 NATIONAL SECURITY MINISTER Itamar Ben-Gvir visits the Temple Mount in Jerusalem during Hanukkah. His reinstatement could not have been more convenient for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the writer emphasizes.

The IDF needs soldiers but Israel is paying yeshivas to dodge the draft - opinion

This might have been possible to tolerate before October 7 but definitely not now, at a time when the IDF is missing over 10,000 soldiers to fulfill the missions it already has.

 MK MOSHE GAFNI, chairman of the Knesset Finance Committee, leads a committee meeting last week. ‘Why would a country willingly fund institutions that seek its downfall? The sad answer is politics. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu needs the haredim in his coalition,’ says the writer.