#6 Plenty of footage was put on the internet by Hamas, et al. And there quickly was a good deal of exploration into why the official Israeli reaction was so slow. See here for what we saw at Rantburg on 10/7.
Reasons like it was a major Jewish holiday and everyone not necessary was on leave, that in their arrogance officers ignored the observations of those watching the border, and that Hamas had encouraged everyone to think that they were being seduced toward responsible governance because previous outbursts had led Israel to bounce rubble. Then there was — what is the term Grom uses? — something about exposure training to accustom the IDF to ignore Hamas preparations as looking threatening but leading nowhere… All last summer the jihadi boys massed in their Hamas-paid mobs, rushing the security fence and setting off fire balloons, but never actually trying to get through.
It must be remembered, though, that while Hamas did not expect Israel to be as unguarded as it was, they also did not expect such a quick and deadly response from the disorganized militia of the citizenry with whatever weapons and IDF troops happened to be about. That one ad hoc patrol of girl soldiers that had essentially cleared one of the kibbutzes, ambushing the invaders one by one before the official defenders arrived.
As for the atrocity stories — to say that Hamas et al did not commit massive and systemic atrocities is to ignore the evidence, of Hamas videos posted on the internet, of community security footage from 10/7 and days following posted on the internet, of eyewitnesses as shared at that time and later, and finally the reports from pathologists released later about the bodies of Israelis, foreigners, and Gazans found at the scene. Perhaps some were indeed exaggerated, but there was enough that a clear pattern is visible. |