Israeli Intel Expert Asks: Where Was Everybody?

Today, we are still sitting in shock at the extent of the Hamas attack on southern Israel and are horrified at the still fully unknown extent of the carnage. As I write, we are looking at more than 800 dead, and 2,600 wounded, mostly innocent civilians. Horrifically, even Holocaust survivors. An unknown number are languishing in Hamas captivity, likely in the rabbit run of tunnels that crisscross Gaza and even connect to Egypt.

The question on everybody’s mind, beyond the horror of these heinous attacks, is how this has happened. It is not just symbolic that the last time Israel was caught by surprise was exactly fifty years ago when it was blindsided by both Egypt and Syria in what is known as the Yom Kippur War. Also launched on one of Judaism’s holiest days, it was a state-to-state confrontation that resulted in more than 2,500 deaths. But it was a state-run war that resulted in over 2,500 Israeli deaths of uniformed soldiers, not women and children.

How was it possible that the sophisticated 2023 version of the Israel Defense Forces got caught by surprise in such a large operation by an unsophisticated fundamentalist Islamic militia like Hamas? Israel and the IDF have a worldwide reputation for being one of the most sophisticated military and intelligence bodies in the world. So what happened?

Apparently, many of the combat units typically deployed next to Gaza had been relocated to the West Bank due to security concerns there. This left military bases lightly manned, and in fact, five bases were occupied and their soldiers either murdered or dragged to Gaza.

So what happened? The Israelis turned to a reliance on technology to report on any unusual movements from Gaza. A sophisticated salad of cameras, electronic observation balloons, UAVs, and the cyber operations of the famed Unit 8200 all failed. How, then, is it that when multiple cameras and other security devices failed at once an emergency situation was not called and troops moved on an emergency basis?

Where was the Shin Bet’s human intelligence? Were all their operatives on the ground in Gaza sleeping so deeply that they could have missed such a major operation?

Right now, Israel must focus on clearing out the remaining Hamas forces inside Israel, and then begin what I hope will be a brutal war inside Gaza that will permanently erase every element of Hamas. Sadly, Hamas cares not for civilian life and will only use it with their crocodile tears to try to gain world support to force Israel to reign in its forces. This time I hope that Israel will turn a deaf ear and finish the job.

Hamas’ leaders, who enjoy the high life in their villas in Qatar, should be hunted down. But at the end of the day, when Hamas is destroyed, it will be Israel’s time to look inward to address and send home in embarrassment those whose hubris, recklessness, and incompetence are the cause of this catastrophe. Their actions put Jewish blood on their hands.

Those who should immediately be held responsible include:

• The head of Military Intelligence
• The IDF chief of staff
• The head of the Shin Bet
• the commanding general of the Southern Command
• the head of the National Security Council
• the defense minister (who is a former commanding general of the Southern Command), and
• the prime minister, because, to quote President Harry Truman, “The buck stops here.”

Further inquiries should detect the failures of other military and intelligence officers and they should lose their positions.

But for now, we have a war to win. The time will come for punishment and forced retirement.