Military Literature Festival: Experts differ over Israeli agencies' intel failure in Hamas attack

Chandigarh, December 3

The devastating attack on Isarel by Hamas on October 7 was a total failure of Israeli agencies to act in time, both at the intelligence and intellectual levels, experts said today during a session on ‘The Israel-Hamas War and its diplomatic and military lessons for India’ at the Military Literature Festival.

Delving into the realm of fixing failure in the political class, Israeli analyst Rafi Sella said online the centrality of decision making in Israel was a major factor. The Prime Minister was on a vacation that day and he took close to 7-8 hours before reaching the command position, Sela said, adding that military decisions in that country cannot be taken without the Prime Minister.

Observer Research Foundation fellow and historian Sushant Sareen said it is fashionable and convenient to pin the blame on intelligence failure. He added that intelligence works up to a point and in this case, there was intelligence about Hamas plans but this was a greater failure to anticipate what a terrorist would do.

Juxtaposing it with the 9/11 attacks on the US, Sareen said had anyone remarked that aircraft would be hijacked and used in this manner, everyone would have laughed that out. The greater threat is to counter the ideology of a terrorist organisation than just shadow boxing to annihilate the infrastructure of the terrorists, he added.