A reminder from October 9th. Key paragraphs from the middle — the American comparisons can be read at the link.
[NYPost] Because the assault involved shootings, rapes and kidnappings, it seems somehow more personal than the jets of 9/11.But there’s one way in which it was identical, and that’s the "totally unexpected" part.
Like American intelligence agencies before 9/11, Israel’s security services were caught flat-footed.
Both American and Israeli officials have said it was a complete surprise.
Israel has spies in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about
oppressionand
disproportionate response...
, of course, but apparently they heard nothing, which is worrisome. Or they aren’t reliable, which is more so.
The United States and Israel both monitor communications there and saw no indication anything was being prepared.
(There must have been plenty of communications, of course, but maybe they used couriers, carrier pigeons or some other nonelectronic means. Electronic spying doesn’t get everything, and people tend to rely on it too much.)
Israeli Ambassador Michael Herzog admits there was surprise but wants to look forward, not backward: "Right now, we have to fight a war, and win it, as I said. Later on, we’ll have time to investigate what happened."
That’s probably sensible — though if I were Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, I’d have someone lock down the records now — but since I don’t have a war to fight, I have a few thoughts.
We know what the Israeli intelligence agencies weren’t doing, which is getting warning of the attack. So what were they doing?
Well, one thing was organizing protests against Netanyahu, in opposition to his party’s platform of reform aimed at Israel’s Supreme Court.
The anti-judicial overhaul protests, sponsored by Joe Biden’s State Department and funded by a variety of Progressive billionaires, continuing the failure to drive Bibi Netanyahu out of government and put the Socialists back in charge that goes back to the turn of the millennium.
As a Washington Post headline says, "Israeli spy chiefs led secret revolt against Netanyahu reforms." "The leaked document labeled top secret says that in February, big shots of the Mossad Spy Service ’advocated for Mossad officials and Israeli citizens to protest the new Israeli Government’s proposed judicial reforms, including several explicit calls to action that decried the Israeli government,'" the article continues.
This "direct intervention into Israeli politics by Mossad, an external spy service forbidden from wading into domestic matters," is "a significant revelation."
So the Mossad, whose job is to protect Israel from external threats, was instead monkeying with domestic politics.
Meanwhile,
...back at the hoedown, the fiddler suddenly struck a sour note. The dancing stopped abruptly. Everyone looked at Bob...
Hamas
...the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...planned mass slaughter, unmolested.
Was the distraction of the agency’s (illicit) involvement in domestic politics the reason nobody noticed a huge terror operation in the works?
Related:
Judicial overhaul: 2023-11-30 Police arrest activist for bereaved families at Knesset protest against government
Judicial overhaul: 2023-11-27 Tel Aviv rally for hostages draws 100,000 to mark ’50 days of hell’ since October 7
Judicial overhaul: 2023-11-08 Türkiye denies data on agreement to accept a million Palestinians
Judicial overhaul: 2023-11-30 Police arrest activist for bereaved families at Knesset protest against government
Judicial overhaul: 2023-11-27 Tel Aviv rally for hostages draws 100,000 to mark ’50 days of hell’ since October 7
Judicial overhaul: 2023-11-08 Türkiye denies data on agreement to accept a million Palestinians