'My Brother's Keeper': A look inside Israel’s ‘West Wing’ - review

Israel’s equivalent of the White House West Wing is “The Aquarium” – the glass-walled inner sanctum of the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem. Ari Harow was a big fish there. Reading his book, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the fictional characters and events of the popular TV drama The West Wing set in the seat of power in Washington.

In My Brother’s Keeper, Harow offers a riveting account of his experiences and insights from his time working closely with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as political chief of staff and other top positions. The focus is on the tumultuous period marked by the strained relations with US president Barack Obama (2009-2017), but it also takes us through various momentous events, not necessarily in chronological order. 

The book begins with the events of the summer of 2014 – the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers; the massive search operation codenamed My Brother’s Keeper; the re-arrest of Hamas terrorists released in the Gilad Schalit deal; and the subsequent war with Hamas in Gaza known as Operation Protective Edge.

Reading the book in 2024, it is, of course, impossible to ignore the Hamas mega-atrocity of October 7 last year and the ongoing Swords of Iron War. And with the US presidential race heating up, it is fascinating to learn about the nature of US-Israel ties and the personalities that affect them.

Harow has an easy-to-read style, an eye for detail, and the ability to tell anecdotes that make you feel up close and personal. There’s tension, tiredness, and private and diplomatic dilemmas. There’s also a special type of camaraderie, particularly among the English speakers, who include Harow, Ron Dermer, Michael Oren, Mark Regev, and others who chose to dedicate their lives to Israel and who brought a different perspective to the diplomatic ties with the world’s superpower in a time of crisis.

Some of the best stories are captivating trivia. Netanyahu is known as a perfectionist when it comes to preparing his speeches. Shortly before his famous Bar-Ilan Speech, Asher, Netanyahu’s loyal barber, was giving the prime minister a last-minute trim. Harow relates:

“Netanyahu sat in a folding chair, an apron around his neck, scissors snipping away as we both reviewed the final version of the draft using a red pen to change words and modify his argument. He read it aloud to me, as there was only the three of us in the room. ‘I’m willing to go to Damascus, Beirut, anywhere to reach peace,’ Netanyahu orated in his address voice. But Asher the barber was not pleased. ‘Why don’t you add that you also want them to come to Jerusalem?’ Netanyahu liked the addition and kept it in the speech. It was a very Israeli moment.”

There is also the chance meeting between Netanyahu and Greek prime minister Andreas Papandreou, which Harow helped facilitate when he realized that both premiers were dining at the same time on different floors of Moscow’s famous Café Pushkin. It was the start of a beautiful alliance of economic and military ties between Israel and its Mediterranean neighbor.

Of the meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Harow recalls, “It was clear to all of us traveling with Netanyahu that Putin likened himself to a czar, but the prime minister had to overlook Putin’s ruthlessness in deference to the power he wielded – especially in parts of the Middle East.”

Putin “felt at ease with Netanyahu’s commando pedigree. Anyone who sat in the room with the two men understood the macho dynamics. Even their handshakes were a test of strength.”

On the US diplomatic front, the reader sees the Obama obsession with bringing “Iran back into the fold of nations”; repairing relations with the Muslim Brotherhood; and his desire and belief that he could be the president to “end the Israeli-Palestinian standoff.”

“The American president was going to change the way business in the Middle East was done,” Harow writes. “He was sincere in his aspirations, as dangerous and impossible as they might appear.”

He also notes: “Obama’s message to Netanyahu during our May 18 visit to the White House was merely a formality. The ‘not one brick’ comment,” banning any building in the settlements, “was an exclamation point to the new paradigm.”

A revealing book but not fawning over Netanyahu

The book is revealing but not fawning. Harow, who paid a personal price for his association with the legally embattled prime minister, notes Netanyahu’s weaknesses as well as his strengths. “The perception of Netanyahu was that he was a complex and difficult-to-understand man – but that was the narrative of those who didn’t know him and didn’t work closely with him. He was an alpha male who was perfect for the job of prime minister: Those of us who worked for him felt that if you worked hard, he was a pleasant boss. It was rare he got angry or raised his voice.”

Former commando Netanyahu still abides by the Sayeret Matkal operative rule to “keep all options open,” Harow points out.

“Those who fought against Netanyahu in the dirty no-man’s-land of Israeli politics and those who sat across from him in the White House or 10 Downing Street never understood how deep the Sayeret Matkal mindset was engraved into his DNA. They took his showmanship, delaying tactics, obstinance, and sheer manipulation as personal slights, but it was all embedded in how serving in an elite commando force wired his mindset. He was all about accomplishing the mission, whatever it was, and no matter what needed to be done. Netanyahu used that philosophy to guide his every move, being petty, irksome, cunning, and at times downright devious to be able to make it until tomorrow.” 

My Brother’s Keeper provides an in-depth look at the dangers posed by Iran and its terrorist proxies, particularly Hamas. There’s a foreword by retired British colonel Richard Kemp CBE and jacket praise from former ambassador to the US Michael Oren and Natan Sharansky.

Irritatingly, some of the names quoted are misspelled or mistransliterated, but it doesn’t detract from the overall value of the book written by someone who was far more than a mere observer of the Netanyahu-Obama relationship and Israel-US ties in general.

The book ends with a postscript looking at the departures board at Ben-Gurion Airport in the fall of 2022, in the post-Abraham Accords era. There were flights scheduled for Cairo, Amman, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Manama, and Casablanca – unimaginable in the summer of 2014.

It’s a reminder that even after the worst of times, there is still room for optimism and hope in the region.

Writing this review, I found I had marked so many passages to quote that it would be impossible to fit them all in. Read the book for yourselves; you can thank me – and Harow – later.■

• My Brother’s Keeper: Netanyahu, Obama, & the Year of Terror & Conflict that Changed the Middle East Forever 
• Ari Harow
• Bombardier Books, 2024
• 298 pages; $30