The Times of Israel https://www.timesofisrael.com/writers/abraham-rabinovich/ News from Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World Fri, 12 Jun 2026 02:22:12 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://static-cdn.toi-media.com/www/uploads/2018/11/toi_icon_512-200x200.png Abraham Rabinovich | The Times of Israel https://www.timesofisrael.com/writers/abraham-rabinovich/ 32 32 How onetime rising IDF star Eli Zeira’s repeat miscalculations cost his country and career https://www.timesofisrael.com/how-onetime-rising-star-eli-zeiras-successive-miscalculations-cost-his-country-and-career/ Sat, 20 Dec 2025 05:20:20 +0000 https://www.timesofisrael.com/?p=3712300 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

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]]> Did Moshe Dayan secretly want to die on the front lines during the Yom Kippur War? https://www.timesofisrael.com/did-moshe-dayan-secretly-want-to-die-on-the-front-lines-during-the-yom-kippur-war/ Sun, 24 Sep 2023 12:43:17 +0000 https://www.timesofisrael.com/?p=3099336 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

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]]> Newly opened archives show Israel’s air force was a weak link during Yom Kippur War https://www.timesofisrael.com/newly-opened-archives-show-israels-air-force-was-a-weak-link-during-yom-kippur-war/ Sat, 18 Dec 2021 12:09:24 +0000 https://www.timesofisrael.com/?p=2667095 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

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]]> Worse than the worst-case scenario: The dreadful hours before the Yom Kippur War https://www.timesofisrael.com/worse-than-the-worst-case-scenario-the-dreadful-hours-before-the-yom-kippur-war/ Wed, 15 Sep 2021 13:33:13 +0000 https://www.timesofisrael.com/?p=2615433 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

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]]> Journalist reckons with Israeli blame for Sabra and Shatila https://www.timesofisrael.com/journalist-reckons-with-israeli-blame-for-1982-sabra-and-shatila-massacre/ Fri, 18 Sep 2020 07:23:30 +0000 https://www.timesofisrael.com/?p=2388580 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

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]]> In 1st missile battle at sea in 1973, Israeli craft evaded Soviet-made missiles https://www.timesofisrael.com/how-the-cherbourg-boats-bested-a-superpowers-weapons-and-changed-naval-warfare/ Sun, 16 Feb 2020 04:01:46 +0000 https://www.timesofisrael.com/?p=2237627 How an Israeli-developed weapon system kept the sea-lanes to Haifa open in a naval confrontation to be ranked with Midway and Trafalgar

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]]> How an Australian sheepshearer’s al-Aqsa arson nearly torched Middle East peace https://www.timesofisrael.com/how-an-australian-sheepshearers-al-aqsa-arson-nearly-torched-middle-east-peace/ Thu, 22 Aug 2019 23:30:20 +0000 https://www.timesofisrael.com/?p=2134023 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

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]]> The Yom Kippur War: When Israel’s Arabs didn’t rise up https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-yom-kippur-war-when-israels-arabs-didnt-rise-up/ Tue, 18 Sep 2018 07:40:50 +0000 https://www.timesofisrael.com/?p=1926812 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

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]]> How Israel became a naval startup nation with the famous boats of Cherbourg https://www.timesofisrael.com/how-israel-became-a-naval-start-up-nation-with-the-famous-boats-of-cherbourg/ Tue, 17 Apr 2018 07:13:03 +0000 https://www.timesofisrael.com/?p=1831078 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

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]]> Reversal of fortune: How the IDF turned the Yom Kippur War around https://www.timesofisrael.com/reversal-of-fortune-how-the-idf-turned-the-yom-kippur-war-around/ Fri, 29 Sep 2017 07:23:35 +0000 https://www.timesofisrael.com/?p=1701803 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

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]]> An American in war-torn Jerusalem witnesses the battle for the Temple Mount https://www.timesofisrael.com/an-american-in-war-torn-jerusalem-joins-the-battle-for-the-temple-mount/ Wed, 24 May 2017 13:15:20 +0000 http://www.timesofisrael.com/?p=1625924 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

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]]> The Yom Kippur case for army intel https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-yom-kippur-case-for-military-intel/ Tue, 31 May 2016 14:52:21 +0000 http://www.timesofisrael.com/?p=1401814 Bennett's demands for military briefings recall a catastrophic day when Israeli cabinet ministers sat in the dark

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]]> 700 troops could have died retaking Gaza, ex-general says https://www.timesofisrael.com/700-troops-could-have-died-retaking-gaza-ex-general-says/ Sun, 21 Dec 2014 20:58:35 +0000 http://www.timesofisrael.com/?p=1109516 Former senior IDF official says Hamas wanted to draw soldiers into central Gaza's maze of tunnels

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]]> The police spy who found his ‘brothers’ in Mea Shearim https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-police-spy-who-found-his-brothers-in-mea-shearim/ Fri, 03 Oct 2014 17:40:45 +0000 http://www.timesofisrael.com/?p=1069722 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

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]]> Wake up and smell the sleaze https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/wake-up-and-smell-the-sleaze/ Mon, 07 Apr 2014 10:37:11 +0000 http://www.timesofisrael.com/?p=943448 The Holyland verdict is a call to activists and journalists to wage war on the country's rampant corruption

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