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Tel Aviv, Israel
Just the night before Hamas’ assault on Israel, the security and intelligence establishment of the Jewish nation received some unnerving signals that aroused concerns.
As reported by Israel’s newspaper Haaretz, several telephonic conversations were held between officials of Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Shin Bet security service and Southern Command.
Two telephonic conversations involved Shin Bet, IDF’s Intelligence Corps, the operations division and Southern Command, and these took place with the knowledge of IDF Chief of Staff Herzl Halevi.
A separate consultation was held at Shin Bet security service, which also involved its head Ronen Bar.
What was the intelligence input?
It was not fully clear exactly what intelligence input triggered these high-level consultations in the Jewish nation, but Haaretz reported that “the information involved an exercise.”
Despite significant nervousness, both IDF’s Intelligence Corps and Shin Bet security service didn’t recommend increasing the state of alert.
No steps were taken, as the Shin Bet said the signals or the intelligence input was insufficient to derive any insight.
Watch: Israel-Hamas war: Israel releases photos of babies allegedly murdered by Hamas | Gravitas
But Shin Bet was concerned that an isolated abduction attack might take place. So, it decided to dispatch a small operational squad to the south.
It was decided that the situation would be reassessed the next morning.
Turned out it was too late by then.
Intelligence failure
On October 7, Hamas launched a massive terrorist attack on Israeli soil. The Shin Bet unit that was dispatched to the south found itself fighting off terrorists at a kibbutz - or Jewish community- near the Gaza border later in the day.
It was definitely an intelligence failure but what shocked the Israeli security establishment was a coordinated leak by a political source to political reporters regarding the failure, Haaretz reported.
Haaretz cited some top Israeli officers as saying that ‘it was no coincidence that shortly after the chief of staff's statement to the public taking responsibility for the horrible failure, someone was already busy briefing in detail regarding the failures of the IDF and the Shin Bet.’
Warnings to the PM
Despite considerable failure, Israel’s security agencies claim they had been warning the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) of ‘the possibility of disaster in light of the internal crisis surrounding Netanyahu's insistence to pass the regime coup legislation.’
Reportedly, the PMO ignored all these warnings, including a direct appeal by the chief of staff. The Prime Minister's Office said on Thursday (Oct 12) that "Netanyahu was updated only at 6:29 A.M. as fighting broke out, and not before.”
(With inputs from agencies)
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