You think elite espionage, you think Mossad. Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, has carried out operations in different continents. They have infiltrated enemy organisations. They have killed Iranian nuclear scientists in Iran. Yet, they couldn’t track this attack right under their nose.
How did that happen? Was it over-confidence, poor intelligence, or something else? Over confidence was certainly one reason. Even for the Americans. They had struck a series of peace deals in West Asia. A number of Arab states had recognised Israel, so they thought the job is done. Look at what America’s national security adviser Jack Sullivan said eight days ago. He said the Middle East is quieter today than in two decades. If that isn’t over-confidence, what is?
‘Intelligence’ outsmarted
But that alone doesn’t cause a disaster like this. Poor intelligence played a role too. Reports say, Hamas pulled off a great deception. They lulled Israel into a false sense of security. But how?
Allow us to explain. In 2021, Hamas and Israel fought a short war, but since then there have been no military operations. Hamas was quiet for more than two years. They even talked about economic gains, about progress for the people in Gaza, and Israel bought this.
They provided financial incentives to Gazans, even gave thousands of work permits. So, people from Gaza could work in Israel and the West Bank. Their salaries were 10 times what they got in Gaza. But behind the scenes, Hamas was busy training soldiers, stocking up weapons and rockets, even building mock Israeli settlements for practise.
How did Israel miss all of this? According to some officials, they didn’t. Apparently, Israel did have information about these weapons. Unfortunately, they couldn’t connect the dots. They failed to realise it was all meant for one single attack. Other reports say, Egypt warned them. They cautioned Israel about an impending attack. Once again, Israel ignored it. In other words, this attack was preventable.
An Iron Wall breached
But let’s forget intelligence for now and focus on what else went wrong. For starters, the technology. Israel and Gaza are separated by a massive barrier. It is made with 140 thousand tonnes of iron and steel at a total cost of about 1.1 billion dollars. Israel called it the Iron Wall. Around 65 kilometres of this wall is underground, so it isn’t possible to tunnel under it either. You had hundreds of cameras, sensors and command posts. The idea was to prevent all types of attacks.
But look at what happened. Hamas bulldozed through the Iron Wall. They literally cut the fencing wire in some places. What happened to the cameras and sensors? Only Israel’s government can tell us.
The signs missed
Let’s also keep the technology aside for now. Common sense should have stopped this attack. Just look at the events of the past one year. Israel-Arab cooperation has reached new heights. They are building an economic corridor together. Saudi Arabia was talking about normalisation, so Israel’s isolation was ending. It was ending fast.Then you had the West Bank situation. Israel was carrying out more raids and building more settlements. The biggest raid was in July. It was the biggest in more than 20 years. Close to 200 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in one year. That’s the highest in a long time. So, the ground sentiment was strong.
Plus, there was internal turmoil in Israel. Thousands protested against Netanyahu’s judicial reforms. The prime minister was under pressure and distracted. His relations with the US also suffered. US President Joe Biden did not invite him to Washington for nine months. That’s a long time for an Israeli PM.
1+1= Disaster
Now, put all these factors together – rising violence in the West Bank, trouble and protests at home, rapid normalisation process and cooling relations with the U.S. It was the perfect moment for Israel’s enemies to strike.
They were distracted and later napping. Many former Israeli officials have called out the intelligence agencies. A probe is already underway. Officials say, it could take years to complete, but the damage has already been done. Israel spends billions of dollars on intelligence. Their spy agency – Mossad – has a budget of three billion dollars. Around 7,000 people work for them. So, resource was not a problem. Inputs were not the problem. Guess the buck stops with the leadership.
Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.
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