Protests erupted on Wednesday outside the Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center in Manhattan during the launch of While Israel Slept, a book examining how Hamas managed to surprise Israel’s military on October 7, 2023. The evening, which was meant to showcase a conversation about one of Israel’s darkest days, was repeatedly interrupted as demonstrators sought to drown out the discussion.
Co-authored by Yaakov Katz, the former editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post, and Amir Bohbot, a defense analyst at Walla, the book explores the years of intelligence lapses, flawed strategic assumptions, and a policy of containment that enabled Hamas to plan its unprecedented assault.
The event featured Katz being interviewed onstage by The New York Times’ columnist Bret Stephens, also a former Post editor.
While Israel Slept argues that complacency, misread intelligence, and failed policy choices paved the way for a strike Israel’s leaders never believed possible – one that left more than 1,200 Israelis dead, hundreds taken hostage, and the Middle East permanently altered.
Actions by anti-Israel protesters at event
Outside on Fifth Avenue, dozens of demonstrators gathered, waving Palestinian flags, wearing keffiyehs, and chanting slogans such as, “You can’t hide from genocide.”
Some protesters succeeded in entering the Streicker Center auditorium. Every few minutes, hecklers shouted from different corners of the hall in an apparent attempt to coordinate their disruptions. Nearly a dozen people were ultimately removed by security.
Despite the interruptions, the program continued. Stephens asked Katz how Hamas’s October 7 massacre could have occurred, given Israel’s vast intelligence resources. Katz, who has covered Israeli defense and intelligence matters for over 25 years, pointed to a mindset within the security establishment that dismissed Hamas as deterred and uninterested in all-out war. That miscalculation, he said, allowed the terrorist group to prepare for years in plain sight.
Several attendees voiced frustration as protesters repeatedly cut off the discussion, while others applauded the calm with which Katz and Stephens steered the event back on track.
The Streicker Center, located within Temple Emanu-El on the Upper East Side, has become a hub for Jewish cultural and intellectual programs. Its events regularly draw large audiences and prominent speakers.