The release of Israel’s official military report on the failures of 7 October 2023 marks a critical moment in the country’s reckoning with one of its darkest days. The findings confirm what many had suspected: a systemic failure in intelligence, preparedness, and response that allowed Hamas’s devastating attack to unfold with little resistance. While the military’s admission of responsibility is a necessary step, the absence of political accountability raises serious concerns about whether the deeper structural issues that led to this failure will truly be addressed. At its core, the report acknowledges that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) fundamentally misjudged Hamas’s intentions and capabilities. Intelligence warnings from as early as 2018, which indicated that Hamas was developing an ambitious offensive strategy, were dismissed as unrealistic.

Even in the months leading up to the attack, when analysts within the intelligence community began re assessing the threat, their concerns did not reach........

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