Four paths to Israel’s intelligence failure

The deadly attack by Hamas on 7 October represents the greatest failure of Israeli intelligence in the country’s 75-year history. At least 1,200 Israelis have been slaughtered. But the attack was not just an Israeli intelligence failure: it was international. Citizens of other countries, including at least 17 British and 22 Americans, were killed. If it transpires, as some reports suggest, that Iran provided operational support for Hamas, then this would represent a failure on the part of other countries’ intelligence services, targeting Iran, to catch wind of the planned assault.

The attack was also, in cold operational terms, a success for Hamas. According to a senior officer from Israel’s security service, Shin Bet, whom I interviewed over the weekend: ‘nobody can understand how this happened’.

Israel now faces arguably the most perilous moment in its history. When adjusted for Israel’s population size, this attack by Hamas is worse than 9/11 was for the United States. The attack, which took place on a Jewish holiday, represents the darkest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust. The images emerging from southern Israel and Gaza, which Hamas controls, are horrendous. Hamas – which the British government designates a terrorist organisation – murdered Israeli civilians in cold blood, raped and beheaded victims, and has taken at least a hundred Israeli hostages to Gaza, one of whom is a Holocaust survivor using a wheelchair. Hamas fighters killed babies and parents in their homes. Partygoers at a music festival were slaughtered.

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Πηγή: engelsbergideas.com