A Call at 4 AM: Thirteen Prime Ministers and the Crucial Decisions that Shaped Israeli Politics

by Amit Segal

The full and untold story of Israeli politics penned by one of Israel’s most distinguished political journalists.

“The phones had been installed in every corner of the apartment, and all started ringing at once. Golda Meir knew exactly what the sound meant—but she was afraid to pick up. Then she woke up with a jolt, covered in a cold sweat. It was 4 AM, and she could not get back to sleep.”

In A Call at 4 AM, Israel’s top political journalist, Amit Segal, takes you inside the moments when history was decided in real time. From Golda Meir’s sleepless nights before the Yom Kippur War to Benjamin Netanyahu’s power struggles during missile attacks, Segal uncovers the untold stories of war rooms, last-minute deals, and the relentless pressure of governing a country that never knows a quiet day.

Through gripping storytelling and unprecedented access, Segal reveals how Israel’s leaders navigate wars, terror waves, and global crises—while constantly fighting for their own political survival. What happens behind closed doors when a prime minister must decide whether to strike Iran? How do backroom betrayals and coalition battles shape military decisions? And why, in Israel, is every political crisis also a national emergency?

Witty, fast-paced, and packed with revelations, A Call at 4 AM is the closest you’ll ever get to standing in the prime minister’s shoes when the phone rings—and the fate of Israel is on the line.

Genres: Israel, History, Politics, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Middle East

248 pages, Hardcover

Published October 14, 2025

Reviews

[Zehava (Joyce) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I’d give this book somewhere between 3.5 and 4 stars. I became familiar with Amit Segal from listening to him on Dan Senor’s podcast and when I heard about his new book I knew I had to read it. This book was an interesting deep dive into the electoral process in the modern state of Israel and how this process has both helped and hindered its prime ministers. The exploration of the different prime ministers was very informative and included a lot of information I didn’t previously know. Some of it was pretty dense and slightly repetitive but overall it was illuminating.
I will note that I listened to this book on audio and while the narrator Mike Lenz was fine, the Hebrew pronunciations were HORRIFIC. (The worst was pronouncing the name Tzippy as TiZippy and pronouncing Lechi as Lehigh but there are many more examples.) I don’t know a lot about the audiobook narration industry but I would think before a narrator narrates a book with many foreign language words they would inquire how to pronounce them or look up the correct pronunciation. Or maybe the publishing company could hire a narrator actually familiar with that foreign language? This seems pretty basic to me but apparently it isn’t. If Kalorama is interested in a Hebrew language tutor for their audiobook narrators they can feel free to reach out.
Thank you to Netgalley and Kalorama for an advanced listening copy of this audiobook.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good look at Israeli history

Happy to have a fresh Kindle from one of the stars of the "Call Me Back" podcast. Heavily insightful into the decision making of Israeli politicians, and just like its author a clear eyed look at the Israeli polity - this is one book to have. Especially for Segal's conclusions about Israel's future.

[Ashley Tovar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an area of political politics that has always interested & intimated me due to the lengthy history & complexity. After this book I feel much more knowledgeable on this area & capable of understanding implications as changes happen. The insight was clear & well done.

Big thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for allowing me to enjoy this.

[Laura Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this book. Don’t listen to the audio version! Amit Segal is so intelligent and articulate with a beautiful accent. I cannot believe that a man with no familiarity with the Hebrew language was selected to be the narrator. He is butchering the pronunciation of all the Hebrew words, and there are MANY in this book. Frankly, it’s ruining it for me. 😔

[Manske · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful history, told with an accent.

Difficult for a novice student of Israeli politics to follow. Footnotes might have helped.
Enjoyed the imaginative analogies.
Israeli politics is crazy. A constitution with separation of powers should be considered.

[Jef Sneider · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amit Segal writes about Israeli politics like a linebacker who just intercepted a pass. He’s running as fast as he can, changing direction frequently, but confusion and danger is coming from every direction. Half the players on the field haven’t figured out yet what happened until only the quarterback stands between the runner and the goal line.

Or, he could be writing like a great soccer player who dribbles from one end of the field to the other without passing, just tapping, kicking, ducking and misdirecting the ball and his feet past one defender after another until he finally breaks free to the goal.

As a spectator it is sometimes hard to follow the game when things suddenly change direction, but it is exciting. The ball may be hidden or moving so fast that you don’t even see it until it is in the goal.
He uses analogies and similes that pop up and then collapse as fast as a whack-a-mole in an amusement park. Given the reality and the history of Israel’s politics, political parties and many leaders, the style of writing fits.

Trying to follow Israeli politics is really like all those examples. The process of creating and keeping a government is competitive and the results are often precarious. Segal describes this in the first chapter as it is David BenGuriun, Israel’s first Prime Minister and its George Washington, who chose the type of government Israel that Israel has.

The Israeli government is not like that of the British or the Greeks, the Italians or the Poles. Their parliamentary system is almost unique in the world. There is only one deliberative body, the 120 seat Knesset. A party only needs to gain 3.25% of the vote to have a seat in the Knesset. Israel has never had a party that won a majority of the seats. Governments are formed by coalitions of many parties, led by the one which has the best ability to organize a government. Strangely, that is not always the party with the most votes. Parties come and go, often created around a charismatic figure only to dissolve when popularity wanes.

Israel is a very small country which contains some very large contradictions among different groups in its population, and Segal helps us understand some of the tensions between these groups. Like the United States, Israel is a country divided almost equally left and right, but the left-right divide is not the best way to describe the tensions at work in Israeli politics.

It contains original kibbutzniks who were poor, socialist and hardworking, and their descendants who have become successful middle class. It has a religious minority which acts like it is still the 18th century, wearing black and white, with men reading Torah all day and refusing to work or serve in the army – their work is to study torah! They vote together as a bloc, however their leaders tell them to vote. Another religious minority believes that the Torah gives them a guide to a different life which includes settling Judea and Samaria, which happen to be occupied by a few million Palestinians. They are the backbone of the military, and they resent their co-religionists who refuse to serve. Secular Israelis would like to be able to ride a bus on the Sabbath and eat pork, but the religious majority won’t allow that.

The biggest controversies in Israel have to do wit these religious v secular issues, but elections have almost always been about security. When voting for security, religious affiliation falls by the wayside along with left v right comparisons. Throw in multiple small parties and big personalities and you get chaos. Such is the Israeli system.

I love the way Segal writes, but I would occasionally get lost as the narrative flipped back and forth from left to right and from one Prime Minister to another. Like I suggested in the opening paragraph, it sometimes seems like everyone is running in different directions and no one knows exactly what is happening on the field except the spectators, except Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been able to ride Israeli politics like a surfer on a big wave. He drops in, cuts, pretends to turn or jump out, then drops back in again. His terms as Prime Minister get mentioned frequently, but not coherently, until the Epilogue. History has yet to draw a conclusion about Bibi Netanyahu.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many insightful stories about each of Israel's Prime Ministers, but also this book offers a unique glimpse into Israel's political structure itself, through both historical and modern lenses. The introductory chapters about Israel's political structure are informative and eye opening; there were several details, both cultural and structural, of which I had been unaware. The final chapter was probably my favorite; it brought everything together so well and I appreciated Segal's point of view about the future political landscapes of Israel juxtaposed against the USA. In general, I appreciated how Segal's experience as an Israeli journalist allows him to offer more than merely sterile facts about Israeli politics, but instead a uniquely qualified perspective from someone who has, on occasion, been in the "room where it happened."

To be transparent, this is not a history book, it is a book about Israel's prime ministers specifically. Readers will need to have a passing knowledge of Israeli history to fully follow the chapters, and even then you may get lost in places… or at least, I did. There are a few points where the book jumps back and forth in time, referencing some PMs by name without an accompanying date. This occasionally left me wondering "when" we were for context, but a quick Google search usually righted my bearings.

I was sent the audiobook to review. The narrator has a pleasant voice, but as others have noted, he struggles considerably with pronunciation, and not just names (Tzippy Scott, Angela Merkel), but also just… regular English words in sentences. It was a bit distracting, not too terrible though, and didn't affect my rating.

Thank you to NetGalley, Amit Segal, and Kalorama for sending me this audiobook. All opinions are my own.

[Gwen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was, for me, a crash course in Israeli politics that helped put parties, prime ministers, and the soul of the country in perspective. It's one thing to follow politics from afar, it's another to understand all of the machinations that are occurring. Too, observing this at different ages and different interest levels meant paying less or more attention.

Segal argues that each prime minister made one decision that critically impacted the country and political mechanisms. He also argues that each prime minister made decisions that were, perhaps, politically inexpedient. Had each decided to step down, or step out, at a certain moment, their future reputation would have been different than what it was. And yet, we all make the decisions that we think are best at the time that we make them. When one is in politics, and has lead a country, it's a different calculus (personal, professional, and party aspirations).

At heart, the battle in the country may be: are you Israeli or Jewish? That answer makes clear what one thinks about settlements, Ashkenazi/Mizrachi power, and more. Segal has done his research, both his years as a reporter and in the archives. The detail is compelling, the offhand comment amusing. (Why did anyone think moving big equipment through streets on Shabbat would be better than doing it at night, or temporarily snarling traffic?) A good, solid and informative read.

[FaithfulReviewer (Jacqueline) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thanks to Kalorama, the author, and NetGalley for an LRC in return for an honest review.

This was a very strange read. As someone in the UK with no prior knowledge of the Israeli political system, I was hoping this book would offer some insight. Unfortunately, it is one of the most poorly edited books I’ve ever read or listened to. The chronology is absolutely atrocious, bouncing the listener around from decade to decade without warning. I had no idea, from one moment to the next, which era of Israel’s political history I was hearing about - and to make matters worse, the book isn’t even up to date. There are multiple current references to Queen Elizabeth II, who died in 2022, more than three years ago.

Amit Segal may well be Israel’s top political journalist, but whoever edited this book did him no favours. While some of the facts I managed to extract were enlightening, the experience as a whole felt disjointed, confusing, and frankly exhausting.

The narrator, Mike Lenz, didn’t improve things. Although his delivery was generally credible, I have to echo other reviewers regarding his repeated mispronunciation of certain names, which further pulled me out of the narrative.

Overall, this was not a great experience and I won’t be recommending the book to others.

#ACallat4AM #NetGalley

[Amir · Rating 5 out of 5]

EXCELLENT.
A fascinating, fast-moving read for anyone who follows Israeli politics.

Amit Segal offers rare inside views into how Israel’s prime ministers navigated one of the most difficult political systems imaginable: a loud, fragmented, non-representative democracy driven by sharp opinions and constant crisis. The book makes a strong case that being Israel’s prime minister may be the hardest job in the world.

Each leader comes across as a distinct mix of intelligence, courage, and ambition—and notably, every one of them exits office under a cloud of controversy. None ride off into a dignified second act, a sharp contrast to the American experience (a point that pairs well with Life After Power).

Segal’s real strength is his voice: witty, clear, and humane. He explains complex political tradeoffs with humor while conveying the greatness—and flaws—of the very human figures who shaped one of the most remarkable countries of the modern era.

[Ann Dewar · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look at the reality of Israeli politics told engagingly but in a way as sympathetically chaotic as its subject matter. There is a lot of roaming back and forth and it is as confusing in some areas as it is elucidating in others.

I listened an audio arc of this book and whilst the narrator is clearly engaging, he should never have been allowed near a book where he is incapable of pronouncing at least 30% of the words and names. It was incredibly irritating and spoilt my enjoyment of the book.

Content interesting, delivery needs to be by a Hebrew speaker.

With thanks to NetGalley, the author and a publisher for an arc of this audiobook.

[Evan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amit Segal has written a definitive overview of Israeli politics through the lens of 13 Prime Ministers, helping the reader understand, and try to make sense, of this compiicated terrain. Segal is an experienced journalist and extremely insightful contributor to the Call Me Back podcast by Dan Senor. Segal also writes a daily newsletter on Israel that cannot be missed. This book focuses on several Prime Ministers and how they reached the pinnacle office, and then were ejected. Ii can think of no better book to help one understand Israel's political system.

[Gary Cohen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative book for me as an American who knew many of the names of the Israeli Prime Ministers featured in the book, but not many of the stories or the manner in which Israeli politics has evolved.

This is great book to gain a greater understanding of Israeli politics and the different nature of how governments are formed in Israel versus other places like the United States.

[Dmytro · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is incredibly valuable, and I would consider it a great starting point into the history of modern Israel, but from the political side.

And huge respect to the author for trying to be objective regardless of his political views.

[Mark Holz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possibly the best book I ever read on the chaos that is Israeli politics. Fascinating. I learned something new on every single page. Before I even finished the book I knew that this was a book I would read again and again.

[Mark Mallah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Segal is a gifted writer who writes about serious political matters with a light touch and wry humor. If you think politics in the US is contentious, Israeli politics is at another level, as this book amply demonstrates.

[Anais · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolutely fabulous!

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative in aggregate although I realized how little I know about the political system in Israel. But man- lots of self-serving, power-hungry, corrupt egoists!!

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

😐/👍