I’ve just concluded a week in Israel meeting with a range of people from media to academia to NGO’s to MK’s to security/intelligence, getting a sense of where Israel sits more than four months after the October 7 Hamas massacre which killed over 1200, injured thousands and resulted in the kidnapping of hundreds. In no particular order, a distillation of some of the conversations:

• A “perfect storm” of causes for the Oct 7 disaster. Some of them:
  • It was the Jewish holiday, Simchat Torah. Israel’s enemies have often attacked on holidays.
  • A stunning intelligence failure perhaps due to “willful ignorance.” Leading up to the massacre, unusual activity was reported and ignored by superiors. The border communities were not notified of the potential threat.
  • The “high tech” border fence, cameras and alert systems failed and without adequate IDF troops, the enemy surge overwhelmed them. Over 300 IDF and security personnel were ambushed and killed.
  • The Massacre is repudiation of the “conceptions” that all Israel needed was a “small and smart army,” that “containment” was enough to protect Israelis and that deterrence alone an effective defense.
  • The political discord last year between left and right over judicial reform fractured the country and presented Israel as a weak nation, ripe for attack.
  • Iran: which funds and trains its proxies across the Mideast including Hamas.
  • Qatar: a “frenemy” of the West, which acts as arsonist and firefighter, supporting Hamas, playing host to its leaders, on the other hand acting as “peacemaker” in brokering cease-fire proposals.
• Israel is unified today in a way that it hasn’t been in many years. The spirit seems high. Israeli Arabs also appear unified in support of Israel. Left and right have come together in record numbers to defend the country.
• The urgent subject of the hostages was the backdrop for all our conversations. Their return is top-of-mind for all, but Israelis have different ideas as to how best make that happen. At the same time, the majority of Israelis want the war to continue until Hamas is eliminated.
• The typical Israeli’s sense of personal security and their confidence in the supposed infallibility of the vaunted Israeli military were shaken by the events of October 7.
• The 2005 disengagement from Gaza was an error and set the table for the situation that exists today. Many in the West still think Gaza is “occupied” in spite of the fact that no Israeli has occupied Gaza since 2005.
• The majority of Israelis don’t want a two-state solution. They’ve lived with two Palestinian “states” surrounding them for years and have seen that terrorism and rocket attacks are the endless result.
• The two-state solution (shortly to be unveiled by the Biden administration) is seen as a reward to Hamas, sending a message to terror groups ISIS, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, etc: committing a major terror act will achieve your objectives.
• A recurring theme for some of today’s Islamists is that occupying Jerusalem is a holy injunction. To some Muslims, Jerusalem is more important than Mecca.
• Colonel Richard Kemp–who met with us–and is one of the major pro-Israel voices seen in international media, has spent all but two weeks in Israel since October 7.
• UNRWA’s “raison d’etre” is to reverse Israel’s 1948 War of Independence. UNRWA behaves as an extension of Hamas and should be defunded and eliminated. UNWRA textbooks have brainwashed generations of young Palestinians to dehumanize Israelis and Jews, paving the way for massacres.
• Israel needs to manufacture its own ammunition and not rely so heavily on the US.
• 42 communities with 60,000 people have been displaced from northern Israel and until Hezbollah is dealt with, many do not want to move back, fearing an October 7 type attack. Tens of thousands have been displaced as well from the south and won’t be able to fully return until Gaza operations have been completed. Hundreds of thousands of people are residing in hotels across Israel. We saw many on our travels.
• Houthi attacks on shipping lanes don’t impact Israel directly because they use other waterways.
• The TROPHY Active Protection System has been a major factor in the success of Gaza operations protecting Merkava tanks and troops from attack. Armored Caterpillar D9 bulldozers move (slowly) ahead of Israeli operations to safely remove land mines.
• The Israeli army needs to double in size.
• An Israeli operation to bomb Lebanon’s missiles was underway (with planes in the air) on October 11 when it was canceled by American intervention.
• There is a shortage of workers now due to Palestinian work permits being canceled.
• The social contract with the Haredi community includes exempting Haredis from conscription. This “contract” must be changed before Israel’s economy crashes.
• The explosion of antisemitic messaging at pro-Hamas rallies and on social media has surprised many whereas others have been predicting this for years.
• Cultural relativism, Diversity-Equity-Inclusion and CRT ideologies all present in academia today have contributed to a false framing of the conflict: Israel is a white colonialist venture and Palestinians are oppressed “indigenous” victims. These ideologies fuel hatred of Israel and Jews.
• The most memorable and moving part of the week was a day trip to the Gaza envelope including visits to Kfar Aza and the Re’im (Nova) Music Festival where massacres, sexual assaults and hostage-taking occurred. The scale of destruction is hard to describe and this is four months later. We also met with the mayor of Sderot and were briefed on the assault of the Sderot Police Station and aftermath.

About CAMERA: Founded in 1982, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA) is a media-monitoring, research and membership organization devoted to promoting accurate and balanced coverage of Israel and the Middle East. CAMERA fosters rigorous reporting, while educating news consumers about Middle East issues and the role of the media. Because public opinion ultimately shapes public policy, distorted news coverage that misleads the public can be detrimental to sound policymaking. A non-partisan organization, CAMERA takes no position with regard to American or Israeli political issues or with regard to ultimate solutions to the Arab-Israeli conflict.