The Man Who Sounded the Alarm Before October 7. Plus. . .

It’s Monday, October 5. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: The presidential hopeful fanning the flames in France. Sally Satel on why psychology’s top accreditor is in the federal crosshairs. Josh Code reports on Gen Z’s new addiction. And much more. But first: The missed warnings about October 7. In 22 days, Israelis will vote in the first national elections since the worst attack in the country’s history. At stake is the political future of Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, and the direction of the Jewish state at a fraught moment in the Middle East. This week marks the third anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 rampage through Israel, and the attack, as well as the war that followed, are major issues on the campaign trail. For Netanyahu, the question that looms over his reelection bid is the same question that has dogged him ever since that dark day three years ago: How could he let this happen? Making matters more awkward for Netanyahu is the handful of people who raised the alarm ahead of the Hamas attack. Today, Jay Solomon talks to one of them: Yigal Carmon, 80-year-old former counterintelligence analyst. He runs an organization called MEMRI, which monitors Arabic- and Persian-language media in the region. On August 31, 2023, he published an article on his website titled “Signs of Possible War in September–October.” War would soon arrive, of course. Carmon is out with a new report, his most comprehensive look yet at the signs of a coming attack and how they were missed. He shared the details exclusively with The Free Press. Why did so few people heed warnings like Carmon’s? Elliot Kaufman, author of the new book In the War Room, sits down with Coleman Hughes in the latest episode of Conversations with Coleman and argues that Israel’s failure wasn’t due to a lack of red flags; it came from an inability to believe Hamas would act on them. Don’t miss their conversation on what happened inside Israel’s war room once the fighting began. —Oliver Wiseman The Wellness Drink That Hooked Gen Z as “Oops Addicts” Gen Z is obsessed with wellness and sobriety. We have smart devices measuring our blood pressure and telling us how well we slept, apps to track our calories, and injections to make sure we don’t consume too many of those calories in the first place. We’re also drinking alcohol at lower rates than our parents did when they were our age. Enter Feel Free, a drink in a tiny blue bottle billed as an alcohol-alternative “social tonic.” A casual buzz without the hangover. The two-ounce bottle contains kratom, a natural substance unregulated by the Food and Drug Administration that can improve focus and produce an opioid-like high when consumed in higher doses. The drink looks innocent. For some users, though, it ended up being addictive, and it can be so hard to stop that withdrawal is “absolutely comparable” to heroin, according to one person who used both. Many of the people I spoke to said they had never touched drugs before and got hooked by accident while seeking an alternative to alcohol, a study aid, or a way to get over their social anxiety. Arizona attorney general Kris Mayes called Feel Free “gas station heroin.” Last month, she sued its manufacturer, Botanic Tonics, for allegedly violating a consumer fraud law. I wanted to know: What the heck is Feel Free? And more importantly, how is it still being sold in over 30,000 stores across the country? Read my report to find out. —Josh Code MORE FROM THE FREE PRESS THE NEWS The United States abruptly pulled all 12 of its B-1 bombers from an air base in southern England over the weekend after officials received new warnings of an Iran-backed plot to attack the base. The unusually fast exit came a week after British police arrested five men on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act after their vans were spotted heading toward the base, an incident British prime minister Andy Burnham has linked to Iran, which denies involvement. Yemen’s Saudi-supported government launched an all-out military offensive against the Iran-backed Houthis yesterday, aiming to retake territory the group has held for over a decade. With more than 200 U.S. analysts reportedly helping the Saudis select targets, the campaign threatens to pull the U.S. deeper into the regional war with Iran. In a rare interview, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito told CBS News’ Jan Crawford that he considered retiring earlier this year but decided he thinks he can “still make a contribution.” He also discussed his shock at the Dobbs leak, the damage done by attacks on the court, and more. The Coast Guard found flight debris off Nantucket, Massachusetts, from a Canadian air ambulance that disappeared early Saturday with six people aboard while flying from Bermuda to Boston. Before losing contact, the pilot declared an emergency and reported electrical trouble. Christa Pike remains unconscious and on a ventilator after Tennessee’s two failed attempts to execute her last week, and it may be days before doctors know if she will recover, her lawyer said Sunday. The state’s prison chief, Frank Strada, announced Saturday he will step down as an independent review of the botched execution begins. (For more on Christa Pike’s attempted execution, read Noah Bernstein’s Q&A with a former executioner.) German chancellor Friedrich Merz announced 1 billion euros in new military aid for Ukraine during a trip to Kyiv on Sunday, as Russian drones hit the capital. German companies also struck about 6.6 billion euros in defense deals with Ukraine during the trip. The White House is tracking reports from Russia about a possible plague outbreak after a 28-year-old researcher at a Siberian lab died. Local officials said she broke a test tube holding the pneumonic plague bacterium in late September, though Russia’s health agency has not confirmed the plague and said that 200 people being monitored have tested negative. Israeli investigators said they believe the FlyDubai co-pilot accused of stabbing the captain and trying to crash a flight to Tel Aviv last week likely acted alone. Passengers helped subdue the co-pilot before off-duty pilots landed the plane safely in Saudi Arabia. (For more on the thwarted terror attack, read our exclusive interview with Yaniv Hayoun, one of the passengers who stormed the cockpit.) As far as Christa Pike still being unconscious since her botched execution, at last check the woman who she help murder is still dead. "With more than 200 U.S. analysts reportedly helping the Saudis select targets, the campaign threatens to pull the U.S. deeper into the regional war with Iran." Why not, "threatens to finally end this terrorist scourge"?