“This is a turning point in Israel’s history” for Ilan Grailsummer

V.SWhat happened on Saturday, October 7, in the Israeli cities bordering the Gaza Strip, such as Sderot or Netivot, kibbutzim, military bases, was a real disaster for the Israeli army and the Israeli government. Disaster may be too weak a word. It was a turning point in Israel’s history. Fifty years, almost to the day, after being taken by surprise by the Egyptians and Syrians during the Yom Kippur War, the military remained completely oblivious to the deadly attack planned by Hamas.

As I write these lines, the Israelis are stunned and paralyzed, they do not understand. Because there is the devastating effect of the attack: 600 Israelis were massacred, civilians and soldiers, 2,000 wounded, many of them in a very serious, desperate condition, flocked to hospitals in the south, and dozens of civilians and soldiers were kidnapped and forcibly taken to Gaza.

The day is not far off when the Israelis will sign up, demand explanations, assign responsibility and blame. Of course, we will first take into account the famous IDF intelligence services, which do not understand anything and cannot analyze what is happening on the other side of the border, while the obvious signs indicate an imminent attack: the concentration of terrorists, cars and motorcycles. , Hamas military preparations. How can a scene like the 1973 attack be repeated? It is simply unbelievable, unthinkable. In some ways, what happened on Saturday was more extreme than the Yom Kippur attack, because Arab forces were unable to occupy Jewish areas at that time.

But soon, beyond the indifference of the army and military leaders, the Netanyahu government certainly cannot escape its terrible responsibility in this disaster. A worn-out prime minister utterly incapable of acting sensibly, a government of ministers whose incompetence has long been evident, has been foolishly obsessed for months with a judicial revolution that undermines the balance of power and Israeli democracy above all. After such severe trauma and such evidence of helplessness, I believe that all Israelis, not just liberal circles, pro-democracy protesters and center-left protesters, will demand political accountability, not hand out prizes. This Netanyahu government is nothing more than a bad memory, new elections are taking place and we have to hope that a government with sane and responsible people will finally be formed.

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