As war unfolds in the Middle East following Hamas militants’ unprecedented surprise attack on Israel, one question continues to be asked: How could Israeli intelligence – and that of its Western allies – have no idea this was coming? Some attitudes, which in many cases take the form of further unanswered questions:
- On CNN, Joshua Berlinger provides historical context: “It has been more than 17 years since an Israeli soldier was taken prisoner of war in an attack on Israeli territory. And Israel has not seen such infiltration of military bases, cities and other places.” Kibbutzim since the city-to-city fighting in the 1948 War of Independence. How could a terrorist group from one of the world’s poorest enclaves manage to carry out such a devastating attack start?”
- At Politico, Jamie Dettmer cites reports that more than 2,200 rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel in the first hours of the attack; Planning is believed to have taken months or even years. “Hamas would have used its vast network of tunnels connecting the enclave with Egypt, but how could it smuggle in the materials needed for such a major attack without Israel getting wind of the traffic? And how could Israeli intelligence not notice what Hamas was doing and assembling thousands of homemade Qassam rockets?”