Join our Community
Support ToI and remove all ads
Learn more
×
Abraham Rabinovich

Abraham Rabinovich

The writer is author of "The Yom Kippur War" (Schocken), "The Boats of Cherbourg" and "The Battle for Jerusalem."
Maj. Gen. Eli Zeira in an undated photo (Israel Defense Forces)
December 20, 2025, 7:20 am
How onetime rising IDF star Eli Zeira’s repeat miscalculations cost his country and career
Dead last month at 97, military intelligence chief was regarded by critics as over-confident and obdurate, but cost of his arrogance was only recognized when it was too late, hours before Yom Kippur War
By Abraham Rabinovich
Then-defense minister Moshe Dayan makes a speech during the 1973 Yom Kippur War in an undated photograph. (IDF Spokesperson's Unit/Defense Ministry Archive)
September 24, 2023, 3:43 pm
Did Moshe Dayan secretly want to die on the front lines during the Yom Kippur War?
Reports of seemingly reckless visits to the battlefield and a rumored mental breakdown in the war’s early days may cast light on the defense minister’s feelings of responsibility
By Abraham Rabinovich
An Israeli Douglas A-4 Skyhawk taxiing in front of an American Skyhawk on the Tel Nof airbase, Israel, October 1973. (IDF Spokesperson, Courtesy)
December 18, 2021, 2:09 pm
Newly opened archives show Israel’s air force was a weak link during Yom Kippur War
In Hebrew title ‘A War of Its Own,’ Prof. Uri Bar-Joseph airs criticism that’s been kept under wraps, detailing failures that stopped Israeli operations from getting off the ground
By Abraham Rabinovich
Israeli troops rushing up to the northern frontier with the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War, October 7, 1973. (GPO/Eitan Harris)
September 15, 2021, 4:33 pm
Worse than the worst-case scenario: The dreadful hours before the Yom Kippur War
A leading chronicler of the 1973 war traces the harrowing final hours as Israeli leaders realized, far too late, that they’d refused to read the signs of imminent conflict
By Abraham Rabinovich
Two Palestinian women weep as they sit on the curb in the Sabra Palestinian refugee camp in West Beirut, Lebanon, September 19, 1982, after they found bodies of relatives. (AP Photo/Bill Foley)
September 18, 2020, 10:23 am
Journalist reckons with Israeli blame for Sabra and Shatila
38 years ago, hours before the Jewish new year, word arrived of bloodshed by an Israeli ally in Beirut. A reporter set off to Lebanon to seek out the truth
By Abraham Rabinovich
One of the Cherbourg boats arrives in Haifa, December 31, 1969. (Wikimeda commons/Israel Clandestine Immigration and Naval Museum)
February 16, 2020, 6:01 am
In 1st missile battle at sea in 1973, Israeli craft evaded Soviet-made missiles
How an Israeli-developed weapon system kept the sea-lanes to Haifa open in a naval confrontation to be ranked with Midway and Trafalgar
By Abraham Rabinovich
Denis Michael Rohan sits inside a bulletproof glass box at his trial for setting fire to the al-Aqsa Mosque, at Binyanei Hauma convention center, Jerusalem, October 7, 1969. (Fritz Cohen/GPO)
August 23, 2019, 2:30 am
How an Australian sheepshearer’s al-Aqsa arson nearly torched Middle East peace
On August 23, 1969, kibbutz volunteer Denis Rohan listened to the voices in his head and started a fire on the Temple Mount, nearly igniting a regional war
By Abraham Rabinovich
Israeli soldiers at the Syrian ceasefire line in the Golan Heights are seen, October 31, 1973, after sudden cold, rain and fog hit them. Female soldier is radio operator Zehava Mizrachi. Other soldiers are unidentified. (AP Photo)
September 18, 2018, 10:40 am
The Yom Kippur War: When Israel’s Arabs didn’t rise up
At a traffic circle near Nazareth, I saw tables with soft drinks, sandwiches, cakes — set up for the troops. There were scenes like this nationwide, but here the women were Arabs
By Abraham Rabinovich
Israeli missile boat flotilla on maneuvers. (Israel Government Press Office)
April 17, 2018, 10:13 am
How Israel became a naval startup nation with the famous boats of Cherbourg
When a young journalist had a startling hunch about Israel’s military capacity, a lot of persistence persuaded the navy to go to great (secret) lengths to help him verify it
By Abraham Rabinovich
An Israeli tank crosses the Suez Canal (Israel Defense Forces Archive)
September 29, 2017, 10:23 am
Reversal of fortune: How the IDF turned the Yom Kippur War around
In this excerpt from his newly updated book, Abraham Rabinovich shows how a plea for help from Syria’s Assad to Egypt’s Sadat opened the way to Israel’s crossing of the Suez Canal
By Abraham Rabinovich
Abraham Rabinovich (center) on Temple Mount, 1967 (photo credit: author's photo)
May 24, 2017, 4:15 pm
An American in war-torn Jerusalem witnesses the battle for the Temple Mount
Fifty years ago, in the days leading up to the Six Day War, a plucky young journalist from Long Island flew to Israel on his first self-imposed war assignment. Here’s what he saw
By Abraham Rabinovich
Abraham Rabinovich
May 31, 2016, 5:52 pm
Abraham Rabinovich
The Yom Kippur case for army intel
Bennett’s demands for military briefings recall a catastrophic day when Israeli cabinet ministers sat in the dark
Brig. Gen. (ret.) Shalom Harari (photo credit: YouTube)
December 21, 2014, 10:58 pm
700 troops could have died retaking Gaza, ex-general says
Former senior IDF official says Hamas wanted to draw soldiers into central Gaza’s maze of tunnels
By Abraham Rabinovich and ToI Staff
Illustrative photo of an ultra-Orthodox man yelling as he walks in Mea Shearim where police were breaking up a protest using water canon. The protest, in August 1996, was by local ultra-Orthodox residents seeking to close a main road in the area to traffic on Shabbat. (Photo credit: Nati Shohat Flash90)
October 3, 2014, 8:40 pm
The police spy who found his ‘brothers’ in Mea Shearim
Veteran reporter Abraham Rabinovich’s new ebook ‘Jerusalem on Earth’ deals with the evolution of the city in the decades after the 1967 Six Day War. This exclusive excerpt tells the story of a young cop, Hanan, who was sent undercover into the ultra-Orthodox Mea Shearim neighborhood in the early 1970s, posing as a non-Orthodox Jew seeking to ‘return’ to religion, in order to penetrate a militant fringe group. The way Hanan was treated, and the impact the experience had on him, offers lessons of lasting value amid our relentless intra-Jewish frictions
By Abraham Rabinovich
Abraham Rabinovich
April 7, 2014, 1:37 pm
Abraham Rabinovich
Wake up and smell the sleaze
The Holyland verdict is a call to activists and journalists to wage war on the country’s rampant corruption
Load More
Sign in or Join The Times of Israel Community
Paying ToI Community members are invited to comment on articles
Please use the following structure: example@domain.com
Or Continue with
By joining you agree to the terms and conditions
Register to continue
Or Continue with
Log in to continue
Sign in or Join The Times of Israel Community
Only ToI Community members can comment below articles
Forgot your password? / Send me a login link
Or Continue with
check your email
Check your email
We sent an email to you at .
It has a link that will sign you in.
Join The Times of Israel Community
Commenting is available for paying members of The Times of Israel Community only. Please join our Community to comment and enjoy other Community benefits.
Please use the following structure: example@domain.com
Confirm Mail
Thank you! Now check your email
You are now a member of The Times of Israel Community! We sent you an email with a login link to . Once you're set up, you can start enjoying Community benefits and commenting.
Back to top
Never miss breaking news on Israel
Get notifications to stay updated
You're subscribed
image
Register for free
and continue reading
Registering allows you to manage your newsletters and alerts and helps us improve your experience. It takes just a few seconds.
Already registered? Enter your email to sign in.
Please use the following structure: example@domain.com
Or Continue with
By registering you agree to the terms and conditions. Once registered, you’ll receive our Daily Edition email for free.
Register to continue
Or Continue with
Log in to continue
Sign in or Register
I forgot my password / Send me a sign in link
Or Continue with
check your email
Check your email
We sent an email to you at .
It has a link that will sign you in.