More
EN
Newsletter
More
Newsletter
EN
Support JNS
Yaakov Lappin

Yaakov Lappin

Yaakov Lappin is an Israel-based military affairs correspondent and analyst. He is the in-house analyst at the Miryam Institute; a research associate at the Alma Research and Education Center; and a research associate at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University. He is a frequent guest commentator on international television news networks, including Sky News and i24 News. Lappin is the author of Virtual Caliphate: Exposing the Islamist State on the Internet. Follow him at: www.patreon.com/yaakovlappin.

The send-off ceremony for Israel’s sixth submarine, INS Drakon, held at the TKMS shipyard in Kiel, Germany, August 2026. Credit: IDF.
Analysis
Should Israel’s navy have more than six submarines?
Threats to the Jewish state’s natural gas assets and sea approaches have multiplied across the Mediterranean, Red Sea and Persian Gulf, and Turkey is developing its own undersea fleet in an assertive maritime expansion.
Oct. 30, 2026
Yaakov Lappin
The ballots of soldiers and absentee voters are counted the day after national elections, on April 10, 2019. Photo by Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90.
Analysis
‘Quarter of military voting stations are beyond Israel’s borders’
Mobile polling teams are reaching soldiers in Lebanon and Gaza, with armed escorts and safeguards for ballot secrecy, a military source tells JNS.
Oct. 23, 2026
Yaakov Lappin
Israeli soldiers gather during a visit by IDF Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir to Judea and Samaria, Oct. 14, 2026. Credit: IDF.
Analysis
Israeli military on high alert ahead of Oct. 27 elections
Former Israeli intelligence officer tells JNS that the IDF’s heightened readiness reflects lessons learned from past failures.
Oct. 22, 2026
Yaakov Lappin
View of the Bedouin village of Arab al-Aramshe in the Western Galilee, April 25, 2015. Photo by Nati Shohat/Flash90.
Israel News
‘The distinction between a drone and a bird can be very small’
Military investigators concluded that mysterious object seen over Western Galilee village was likely a balloon.
Oct. 17, 2026
Yaakov Lappin
Guided-missile destroyer USS Pinckney (DDG 91) observes a merchant vessel while on patrol enforcing the U.S. blockade against Iran, May 4, 2026. Credit: U.S. Central Command.
Analysis
Iran’s ability to weaponize Hormuz ‘significantly undermined’
U.S.-secured oil exports from the Gulf have surpassed pre-war levels, even as Iranian attacks on tankers surge.
Oct. 16, 2026
Yaakov Lappin
Navy USS Theodore Roosevelt
Analysis
‘United States looking at all possibilities’ on Iran
Some 3,000 U.S. military personnel are reportedly deployed in Israel as the Pentagon moves carriers and Marines toward the Middle East.
Oct. 14, 2026
Yaakov Lappin
Palestinian police during a military parade in the West Bank city of Nablus to celebrate the 31st anniversary of their founding in the Palestinian Authority, July 1, 2025. Photo by Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90
Analysis
‘Short and forceful': The IDF’s war plan if Palestinian Authority forces turn their guns on Israel
Former Israeli defense officials assess the risks behind the defense minister’s directive ordering the IDF to prepare for a possible armed clash with the P.A.
Oct. 13, 2026
Yaakov Lappin
Elbit Systems' C-MUSIC defense system installed on an aircraft. Credit: Elbit Systems.
Analysis
Made in Israel: ‘The laser beam disrupts the missile’s seeker head’
An Elbit representative tells JNS how the company’s C-MUSIC system shields airliners from heat-seeking missiles, as global demand grows
Oct. 8, 2026
Yaakov Lappin
The Volkswagen automobile factory in Osnabrueck, Germany, March 27, 2026. Photo by Hesham Elsherif/Getty Images.
Analysis
‘A sign of how much Israel has grown in strength’
A plan to establish Israeli defense production at a former Volkswagen plant marks a milestone for defense exports, former intelligence officer tells JNS.
Oct. 5, 2026
Yaakov Lappin
Israel Aerospace Industries’ Barak MX air-defense system. Morocco has acquired the Israeli-made system as defense ties between Jerusalem and Rabat continue to expand. Credit: IAI.
Analysis
Morocco buying ‘both defensive and offensive’ capabilities from Israel
A Western observer tells JNS that Morocco’s growing purchases of Israeli defense technology reflect a wider regional shift as Israeli firms prepare for next week’s Marrakech Airshow.
Oct. 1, 2026
Yaakov Lappin
Jewish fighter jet
Analysis
Debunking ‘NAZA': ‘No strike was ever decided based on an algorithm’
An Israeli military source describes the multi-stage process the IDF uses to approve airstrikes in Gaza.
Sept. 27, 2026
Yaakov Lappin
Iran's then-Interior Minister Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi delivers a speech during a gathering of war veterans and families to support their country's nuclear program at the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Tehran on March 5, 2006. Photo by Behrouz Mehri/AFP via Getty Images.
Analysis
‘Pickaxe Mountain site must disappear or be incapacitated’
Iran is preparing the site as a substitute enrichment site, former Israeli National Security Adviser Jacob Nagel tells JNS.
Sept. 25, 2026
Yaakov Lappin