In 1977, he was appointed director of the Government Press Office, a post he held for five years during the administration of Prime Minister Menachem Begin.

A review in The New York Times of his book Heroes and Hustlers called him "an Israeli Tocqueville."

Chafets was the founding managing editor and staff columnist of The Jerusalem Report magazine.

[6] In 2011, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the City of Pontiac, his American hometown.

He has been a vocal critic of Arab dictatorships, Islamic radicalism, extremist groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, and what he asserts is a pro-Palestinian bias in academia and parts of the mainstream media.