Ep. 93 | The Israeli General Who Predicted Oct 7 – and What He’s Predicting Now (Yossi Kuperwasser)

By Marc LiVecche & Robert Nicholson & Yossi Kuperwasser on July 3, 2025

In July 2023, Brig. Gen. (ret.) Yossi Kuperwasser saw something catastrophic on the horizon: a Hamas invasion of Israel. A year later, in a conversation with Providence, he predicted an aggressive IDF military campaign to proactively degrade Hezbollah, the Assad regime, and Iran itself — another bold prediction which also came true. One year later, Kuperwasser’s reputation as a prophet has been firmly established.

Now the president of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, Kuperwasser joins the Provcast to discuss his past predictions, the current state of Israel’s multi-front war against its enemies, the IDF’s changing military doctrine, IS-Israel relations, and the recent Israeli-American strike on Iran. This time Kuperwasser predicts the emergence of a new regional security architecture — and, possibly, a wider peace — that could bring about dramatic changes in the Near East.

Marc LiVecche is the McDonald Distinguished Scholar of Ethics, War, and Public Life at Providence. He is also a non-resident research fellow at the US Naval War College, in the College of Leadership and Ethics.

Marc completed doctoral studies, earning distinction, at the University of Chicago, where he worked under the supervision of the political theorist and public intellectual Jean Bethke Elshtain, until her death in August, 2013. His first book, The Good Kill: Just War & Moral Injury, was published in 2021 by Oxford University Press. Another project, Responsibility and Restraint: James Turner Johnson and the Just War Tradition, co-edited with Eric Patterson, was published by Stone Tower Press in the fall of 2020. Currently, he is finalizing Moral Horror: A Just War Defense of Hiroshima. Before all this academic stuff, Marc spent twelve years doing a variety of things in Central Europe—ranging from helping build sport and recreational leagues in post-communist communities, to working at a Christian study and research center, to leading seminars on history and ethics onsite at the former Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi concentration camp in Poland. This latter experience allowed him to continue his undergraduate study of the Shoah; a process which rendered him entirely ill-suited for pacifism.

Marc lives in Annapolis, Maryland with his wife and children–and a marmota monax whistlepigging under the shed. He can be followed, or stalked, on twitter @mlivecche. Additional publications can be found at his Amazon author page.

Robert Nicholson is Editor-at Large of Providence, co-founder and board member of Save Armenia, founder of The Philos Project, and co-founder of Passages Israel. Robert also serves on the advisory board of In Defense of Christians and The Hague Initiative for International Cooperation (thinc). A formerly enlisted Marine and Tikvah Fellow, he holds a BA in Hebrew Studies from Binghamton University, and a JD and MA in Middle Eastern History from Syracuse University. His written work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Telegraph, New York Post, Jerusalem Post, Times of Israel, Newsweek, First Things, The Hill, and National Interest.

Yossi Kuperwasser is a retired Israeli Brigadier‑General and intelligence expert who served as head of the Analysis & Production Division in the IDF’s Military Intelligence (Aman) from 2001 to 2006. He also held roles as Intelligence Officer for Central Command, Intelligence Attaché in Washington (1992–1994). He later became Director‑General of Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs before being appointed head of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS) in March 2025. Since retiring, he has been a senior researcher and policy analyst at think‑tanks like the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and JISS, focusing on Middle East security, with frequent contributions to Israeli and international media.

Providence is the only publication devoted to Christian Realism in American foreign policy and is primarily funded by donors who generously help keep our magazine running. If you would care to make a donation it would be highly appreciated to help Providence in advancing the Christian realist perspective in 2025. Thank you!

Events & Weekly Newsletter Sign-up

Receive the weekly email for all the latest content.