“The Next War” is a fantastic book. Written by Amir Tsarfati and Steve Yohn, it is about the Mossad, Israel’s highly secretive intelligence service, and it follows Nir Tavor, an operations team leader in the organization. The book describes a series of clandestine actions by the team, and then the formation of a coalition against Israel led by Russia, Turkey and Iran. They are poised to invade and decimate Israel when a remarkable event occurs.
“The Next War” does a good job of building up Nir’s Mossad team, his heroism and his complex family. Key to the events is “The Disappearance.” That event happened about a year before this book, at the end of the earlier Nir Tavor Mossad Thriller series, and it caused millions of people around the world to vanish. Among those who disappeared was Nir’s girlfriend, Nicole. She had predicted that if the enemies of Israel ever moved against her, God would intervene. Do you find these events unbelievable?
“The Next War” Book Summary
“The Next War” is the first book in the new Nir Tavor Tribulation Series, which picks up where the four-book Nir Tavor Mossad Thriller series left off. Nir is an operations officer and team lead for the Mossad, Israel’s secretive intelligence service. Throughout the first 75% of this book, the reader goes with Nir and his operations team on a series of missions around the world to do clandestine damage to Israel’s enemies.
Nir is portrayed as sort of a superhero in “The Next War.” He is able to accomplish feats of strength and endurance while on missions. He also gets wounded a couple of times and can come back from his wounds quickly. One of the important things we learn about in this three-quarters of the book is “The Disappearance,” when millions of people around the world vanished suddenly.
Through these operations, we come to know Nir, his team and his family. Because of this excellent background information, it is not necessary to read the prior books in this series. The real action comes in the last quarter of the book. A Russian-led coalition forms and threatens to destroy Israel.
Spoiler alert: The rest of this section describes the book’s ending.
The coalition is announced by the Russian president. He also announces the intent to wipe Israel off the map. The coalition contains Russia, Turkey, Iran and others. The United States, historical protector of Israel, is nowhere to be seen. It was crippled by The Disappearance.
The coalition gathers, menacingly, on the Israeli border. Nir and his team are on the way to the border when the Knesset decides fighting is fruitless. It tells the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to go home and stands down the Mossad. Just as the force is about to invade, when all hope is lost, an earthquake opens a fissure that swallows up the force. The troops are then beset by torrential rain, lightning and large hail. Finally, the troops go nuts and start killing each other. It is estimated that 92% of the force, or 1.3 million troops, died.
If this ending sounds familiar, it should. The authors base it on Ezekiel 38, the Old Testament prophecy of a great northern army that attacks Israel and is destroyed by an earthquake, hail and fire, with the soldiers turning their swords on one another.
Why You Should Read This Book
You should read “The Next War” if you want to be thrilled. The book, be warned, has a long buildup, but a shocking conclusion. This alone makes the book worth reading. Another bonus is that the reader gets to learn about the clandestine operations of the Mossad.
Final Analysis: Relationship to Current Conflicts
“The Next War” references real events throughout, like the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel. The animosity with Russia may seem a little strange at first. There are about 1.3 million Russian speakers in Israel and a lot of Jewish people in Russia. But Russia has never really been a protector of the state of Israel. It has long sided with Iran and with the Assad regime in Syria, and the authors build their story on Ezekiel 38, a prophecy many Bible teachers believe points to Russia leading an attack on Israel. It is also a little strange to imagine Israel feeling it can no longer rely upon the United States. In this book, though, The Disappearance has knocked America off its feet, and Israel is left to stand alone.
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