If the reports are true, Israel had documents showing Hamas plans to attack Israel for over a year. I’ll admit, I kind of wondered, but it’s still jaw-dropping to realize that there was a major intelligence failure on Israel’s part concerning the Hamas atrocities on October 7.

Israeli officials obtained Hamas’s battle plan for the Oct. 7 terrorist attack more than a year before it happened, documents, emails and interviews show. But Israeli military and intelligence officials dismissed the plan as aspirational, considering it too difficult for Hamas to carry out.

The approximately 40-page document, which the Israeli authorities code-named “Jericho Wall,” outlined, point by point, exactly the kind of devastating invasion that led to the deaths of about 1,200 people.

The translated document, which was reviewed by The New York Times, did not set a date for the attack, but described a methodical assault designed to overwhelm the fortifications around the Gaza Strip, take over Israeli cities and storm key military bases, including a division headquarters.

As it turns out, over a year later, on October 7, Hamas carried out attacks on Israel exactly as they had outlined in their battle plan. This is a huge intelligence failure on Israel’s part. And I’m not happy about the fact that I’m writing about this. 

9/11 was a massive intelligence failure for the United States. Our agencies were so damned stove-piped that no one was sharing information. No one at the top tiers of the chains of command wanted to see that, why yes, there are people wanting to execute these types of attacks and the chatter was increasing. 

*Side note: I still believe the intelligence agencies here in the U.S. are too caught up in the weeds to truly and objectively assess intelligence without filtering it through political agendas, which is a serious problem. 

That said, there was a 40-page document that Israeli intelligence got their hands on and were able to review in-depth. One of the concerning items regarding this is that the document showed, as has been reported, that Hamas knew positions and locations that they shouldn’t have. 

The 10 gunmen from Gaza knew exactly how to find the Israeli intelligence hub — and how to get inside.

After crossing into Israel, they headed east on five motorcycles, two gunmen on each vehicle, shooting at passing civilian cars as they pressed forward.

Ten miles later, they veered off the road into a stretch of woodland, dismounting outside an unmanned gate to a military base. They blew open the barrier with a small explosive charge, entered the base and paused to take a group selfie. Then they shot dead an unarmed Israeli soldier dressed in a T-shirt.

For a moment, the attackers appeared uncertain about where to go next. Then one of them pulled something from his pocket: a color-coded map of the complex.

Many Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank work in Israel. It could be said that they’ve worked to develop trust levels with Israelis so that scoping things out they shouldn’t be goes unquestioned. 

We are watching as traumatized hostages are being released, while Hamas continues to intimidate, attack, and hold the rest hostage as a psych ops move. The hostages, some who are children, released are finding out how many of their family and friends were murdered by Hamas. The trauma they’ve endured and the trauma that comes from finding out about those they’ve lost, I just can’t imagine. 

Hamas just released a video of Yarden Bibas—the father of the two babies taken hostage.

Hamas says it’s a video of him reacting to his wife and two children being killed by “occupation planes.”

Hamas is using children and/or a grieving father to wage psychological warfare.

— Kassy Dillon (@KassyDillon) November 30, 2023

Yet to also find out that this was likely a massive intelligence failure has to be a huge blow. 

According to Channel 12’s reporting, the NCO’s colleagues did not ignore the warnings, and they even collected intelligence on additional Hamas training a few days later.

“Another small and cute note — during the training, the following conversation occurred: ‘What is your situation, and what is the situation of your preparation. I am waiting for instructions from you so we can enter through their gate. We are in full preparation, waiting for instructions from you,” the NCO reported in a follow-up email after collecting the reports of new training.

In mid-July, a senior officer in the 8200 praised the NCO for her work but dismissed the scenarios in her warnings as unrealistic and imaginary, according to Channel 12. But the NCO, along with another colleague, pushed back and argued that the training had real, strategic implications.

“This is a plan with intentions to start a war,” the NCO said at one point in defense of the seriousness of the intelligence. She quoted high-ranking Hamas militants in saying “war phrases” about preparing to kill Jews and decapitate people. “They are training, in large forces, for a big event. This is not a parade of power, this is preparation for the real thing,” she said.

Thus, even with her reporting, that analyst’s very valid concerns were dismissed. That happened prior to 9/11 as well.

Supposed subject matter experts opined about this issue just a month ago. 

Oh? We are supposed to believe that OUR intelligence assets didn’t pick anything up? That this was all Israel’s fault? Are WE not monitoring Hamas? We should be! 

https://twitter.com/alexplitsas/status/1730364290551382286

There was an intelligence failure. That’s been very clear from the get go. Israel can’t afford anymore failures like this. WE can’t afford any more intel failures either. Just as with 9/11, who will learn from this? 

Feature Photo Credit: Israel flag against broken rock via iStock, cropped and modified