Israel’s leaders owe answers about Oct. 7

Lower Gwynedd, Pa.: I’ve always assumed there wasn’t much evidence that Israel could have known Hamas’ battle plans prior to Oct. 7, 2023. But I recently read a detailed and well-documented report entitled “Engineered Failure: Evidence of foreknowledge, enabling, and cover-up regarding the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023.” Far from being an unpredictable surprise attack that caught Israeli authorities completely unaware, the evidence suggests a clear pattern of deliberate actions and inactions leading to an unalterable conviction: They let it happen.

As detailed in this report, Israeli intelligence possessed Hamas’ detailed battle plans for more than a year before the attack (The New York Times, Nov. 30, 2023), received explicit warnings from Egyptian intelligence services, and observed unusual Hamas activities that mirrored these plans. Despite this wealth of foreknowledge, no preventive measures were taken. Additionally, leading up to Oct. 7, Israeli authorities systematically weakened defenses along the Gaza border by redeploying troops away from the area.

The Hamas attack immediately halted massive protests against Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial reforms, paused his corruption trials, and advanced the ideological objectives of his far-right coalition partners — namely, to extend Israel’s borders to ensure that no Palestinian state would ever exist west of the Jordan River. The victims of Oct. 7 and their families deserve a full accounting of how and why this tragedy was allowed to occur.

Rosedale: To Voicer........

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