Maj. Gen. (ret.) Giora Eiland is the former head of the Israeli National Security Council, a post he held from 2004 to 2006. He also served in the Israel Defense Forces for 33 years, heading the Strategic Planning Branch at the end of his career.
Our Voice of the Fortnight is from the Times of Israel's 'Wartime Diaries' podcast. In the immediate aftermath of October 7th, Shai Davidai – an Assistant Professor at Columbia University – became an unlikely public defender of Israel. And truthfully, even he was surprised by this turn of events: As a committed left-wing Israeli, he had spent years criticizing the government, and often took to the streets to demonstrate against its policies. But the atmosphere he witnessed on college campuses (and specifically on his own campus at Columbia), compelled him to speak up and speak out.