The surprise Hamas attack will forever go down in history as a failure of Israeli intelligence. This is what columnist Peter Beaumont writes in an article for The Guardian.
Peter Beaumont believes that Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on the 50th anniversary of the Doomsday War will forever go down in history as a failure of Israeli intelligence. The columnist notes that in just a few hours dozens of members of the Palestinian Islamist movement from the Gaza Strip broke through the border fences into the southern parts of the country, something the country’s military did not expect.
“That said, what is surprising is that Israel is conducting surveillance of Palestinian society by extremely high-tech and all-pervasive means. Moreover, surveillance of Hamas is a priority for the security forces <…> This is why the fact that Israel was unaware of the planned Hamas attack is so surprising,” the columnist expresses surprise (quoted in Foreign Media).
The author of the article stresses that Israel’s surveillance technology industry is one of the most advanced in the world, “as evidenced by the Pegasuso spyware scandal.” However, the columnist notes that Israeli intelligence “somehow” missed Hamas’ preparations.
“Military analysts have already noted, then, that Hamas probably used disinformation and various deceptive moves, as well as the shock of attacks from several directions at once – including rocket attacks and stealthy infiltration into Israel – to cause maximum chaos,” the author of the article notes.
The journalist emphasises that Israeli intelligence overlooked Hamas’ preparations for an attack at several stages – planning, stockpiling and the eve of a direct attack on Israel.
“All of this shows that the Hamas attack – like the organisation’s previous surprise attacks, including those involving tunnels leading into Israel – was carefully prepared,” says the journalist.
In addition, the author of the article emphasises that the escalation in relations between Palestinians and Israelis is linked to the deep internal political crisis in the country.
“But one thing is clear: this attack took place in the midst of a period of deep social upheaval in Israel,” states Beaumont.