"They Hated Each Other”: Inside Netanyahu’s War Cabinet | WSJ's Elliot Kaufman

"They hated each other." That's Elliot Kaufman describing Israel's war cabinet, not its enemies.

Kaufman joins Noam Dworman on the rivalries, leaks and gambles behind Israel's war since October 7. Why did Netanyahu wait 20 days to invade Gaza? When was Biden saving Israel from itself, and when was he holding it back? And why did killing Nasrallah trigger a furious phone call from Washington? They also confront what both consider Israel's biggest mistake in Gaza: taking ground, leaving, and having to fight for it all over again.

Also: Gallant and Gantz, Jake Sullivan and Lloyd Austin, the Philadelphi Corridor, Rafah, the Qatar strike, Trump's "all I heard was yes," Mamdani's October 7 statement, and Iran under blockade.

Get the full story in Kaufman's new book, In the War Room: The Inside Story of Israel's Fight Against Hamas and the Iranian Axis, coauthored with Yonah Jeremy Bob.

0:00 Elliot Kaufman and the case for airing Israel's dirty laundry 6:44 Churchill's war room vs. Israel's: "they hated each other" 18:25 Mers-el-Kébir, Netanyahu's history test, and the 20-day wait to invade Gaza 30:06 Hostages, the Philadelphi Corridor, and the Saudi deal that wasn't 38:34 Rafah in days, not months, and was Biden really in decline? 48:46 The morning of October 7: Halevi's note and one aircraft 55:12 Killing Nasrallah without telling Washington, and how the Iran war began 65:29 Endgame: Petraeus, raid-and-leave, "all I heard was yes," and the story that leaves Hamas out