Hamas’s sophisticated, multi-pronged attack on Israel has changed the geo-political landscape of Israel and the region. The nature and extent of those changes will depend largely on how Israel responds to Hamas’s ambitious combined offensive.
It is as yet unclear how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intends to carry out his pledge to turn Hamas’ strongholds into “ruins” without sacrificing the Israelis whom Hamas has taken hostage. But even in the early aftermath of Hamas’s stunning assault, this much seems clear.
First, the militant Islamists’ devastating, highly coordinated assault on Israel by land, sea and air succeeded partly because it was a total surprise to Israel’s intelligence and security services, and hence, a shocking failure. Whereas Israel misinterpreted the intelligence it had about Egypt’s and Syria’s war plans before the 19-day October War of 1973, this time Israel had no advance intelligence. Its much-respected intelligence and security services apparently had no clue about what must have been months of Hamas planning and training, as well as its production, import and stockpiling of weapons. Israel grossly underestimated Hamas’ military capabilities.
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Judith Miller is a contributing editor of City Journal and adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Follow her on Twitter here.
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