Andrea Widburg writes for the American Thinker about important new analysis of the Hamas attacks on Israel.
Ever since October 7, people have been struggling to understand how Israel—a nation that’s been on the front lines since its creation (whether in the Bronze Age or 1948), that has a famed intelligence service, and that’s supposed to be bristling like a porcupine against all comers—could have been so vulnerable. Theories have ranged from sexism to a global conspiracy of the elites to Netanyahu being betrayed by leftists within his government to complacency. It turns out that the last two theories probably hit the mark.
Caroline Glick, a political analyst in Israel, has posted an important video explaining what happened. She lays the blame primarily on two generals, focusing on both their conduct before and after the October 7 attack, but the video really is an indictment of the Israeli left, as well as a warning for Americans. …
… [A]nalysts, border watchers, people who audit communications, and a whole host of others in the Israeli military warned of the imminent attack for months and even years without the Israel Defense Forces doing a damned thing to stop it. If you don’t have time to watch the whole video, here’s the short answer: arrogance and complacency. Both these generals she names refused to believe that Hamas, despite the steadily mounting evidence, could or would launch a successful attack.
Part of the problem behind this arrogance and complacency is because of Israel’s generally long stretch of peace. It’s had small, controllable wars over the past 50 years, nothing like the 1947/1948, 1956, 1967, or 1973 wars, all of which Israelis understood were existential attacks. It’s noteworthy that one of the generals Glick discusses wasn’t born until after the 1973 war, while the other was only a child then.
The other part of the problem, though, is leftism.
