Book Review: Israeli Defense and Intelligence Before and After
Itai Shapira examines how institutional culture, strategic assumptions and organizational habits shaped both Israel’s intelligence failure on October 7 and the resilience that followed
The book's cover
The October 7, 2023 attack exposed one of the most severe intelligence failures in Israel’s history — yet it was followed by a rapid recovery that demonstrated the resilience of the country’s defense establishment. In Israeli Defense and Intelligence Before and After October 2023: The Cultural Roots of Strategic Surprise and Resilience (Routledge), former Israel Defense Intelligence officer Itai Shapira examines this apparent contradiction through the lens of institutional culture.
Rather than focusing only on operational failures, Shapira explores how deeply rooted assumptions, organizational habits, overconfidence and reliance on technology contributed to strategic surprise. At the same time, he examines how flexibility, adaptability and a culture of action helped Israel’s security organizations respond and evolve after the attack.
Drawing on extensive interviews with intelligence and military practitioners, Shapira presents an analysis of how security institutions can both fail and recover under extreme pressure.
“Shapira’s cultural approach advances a comprehensive, original, and methodologically rigorous explanation for these seemingly paradoxical outcomes,” writes Uri Bar-Joseph of the University of Haifa, referring to the contrast between the intelligence failures before October 7 and the achievements that followed.
Security analyst David Rodman, writing in Israel Affairs, describes the book as “a very perceptive first take” on what went wrong inside the Israeli intelligence community before the attack and what has worked since.
With more than 25 years of experience in Israel Defense Intelligence, Shapira brings an insider perspective to one of the most important debates facing Israel’s security establishment. The book offers a valuable examination of intelligence doctrine, strategic surprise and the cultural factors shaping both failure and resilience.
Israeli Defense and Intelligence Before and After October 2023: The Cultural Roots of Strategic Surprise and Resilience
By Itai Shapira
Publisher: Routledge
Publication date : June 17, 2026
Print length : 264 pages