Ever since October 7, people have been struggling to understand how Israel—a nation that’s been on the front lines since its creation (whether in the Bronze Age or 1948), that has a famed intelligence service, and that’s supposed to be bristling like a porcupine against all comers—could have been so vulnerable. Theories have ranged from sexism to a global conspiracy of the elites to Netanyahu being betrayed by leftists within his government to complacency. It turns out that the last two theories probably hit the mark.
Caroline Glick, a political analyst in Israel, has posted an important video explaining what happened. She lays the blame primarily on two generals, focusing on both their conduct before and after the October 7 attack, but the video really is an indictment of the Israeli left, as well as a warning for Americans:
The video is short (about 35 minutes), so I urge you to watch the whole thing if you want to understand how analysts, border watchers, people who audit communications, and a whole host of others in the Israeli military warned of the imminent attack for months and even years without the Israel Defense Forces doing a damned thing to stop it. If you don’t have time to watch the whole video, here’s the short answer: arrogance and complacency. Both these generals she names refused to believe that Hamas, despite the steadily mounting evidence, could or would launch a successful attack.
Part of the problem behind this arrogance and complacency is because of Israel’s generally long stretch of peace. It’s had small, controllable wars over the past 50 years, nothing like the 1947/1948, 1956, 1967, or 1973 wars, all of which Israelis understood were existential attacks. It’s noteworthy that one of the generals Glick discusses wasn’t born until after the 1973 war, while the other was only a child then.
The other part of the problem, though, is leftism. There’s the political angle, of course, as Glick writes in a companion article at JNS about the head of intelligence in the region, Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva:
All of this would be bad enough. But it becomes even worse when seen in the framework of the 10-month insurgency the Israeli left waged against the Netanyahu government. That insurgency was led by Haliva’s family. His ex-wife and the mother of his children, Shira Margalit, is married to Ilan Shiloah, a senior advertising executive. Margalit and Shiloah stood behind much of the political unrest that Israel has experienced since last year. Haliva’s daughter spoke at anti-government protests. His son’s twitter feed is filled with anti-Netanyahu invective.
Haliva reportedly did not share the mountain of information his professional intelligence corps gathered on Hamas’s plans. But he reportedly repeatedly warned Netanyahu that his government’s legal reforms were emboldening Israel’s enemies and increasing the likelihood of war.
Glick also reports that, during a post-October 7 graduation ceremony within the intelligence division, Haliva refused to accept Netanyahu’s statement that Israel is engaged in an existential war for her survival. Instead, he said, it’s just the usual thing of keeping the streets safe for our citizens, etc. That’ll get the soldiers fighting…
Glick also homes in on—indeed, she opens her video with—the order from the other general she savages, Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, the head of Southern Command. As conquering armies do, the Israeli troops left graffiti in their wake celebrating their victories or God. During the ceasefire, Finkelman, who should have been focusing on replenishing military depletions, forced the troops to go out, at great risk to themselves, to clean up the graffiti, lest it offend the Gazans.
In other words, when faced with a fanatic, well-funded enemy that has been open about its genocidal goals, these generals were not serious men. Instead, they were focused on the leftist narrative, which boils down to “Bibi bad, and Gazans have the potential to be good.”. In that, they reminded me of a Sabra friend who was baffled as to why Arabs hate the Jews. It turned out she was unfamiliar with the Koran’s mandate that they hate and slaughter Jews. She’s lived her whole life in Israel and didn’t know this.
For leftists, narrative is everything, and they will never allow facts to get in their way, even if it kills them (and everyone else).
But before we tut-tut over Israel and turn to another subject, I hope that, as you read this post, you thought to yourself, “Whoa! This sounds remarkably like the American military.”
Our military leadership has shown itself over the years to consist of hyper-politicized leftists who are complacent, arrogant, and focused on everything but America’s defense. Their preoccupations are climate change, racism, sexism, and the panoply of LGBTQ+ issues when they should be paying attention to the dangerous world in which we live, including the millions of unvetted men from all parts of the globe streaming daily over our borders.
Israel isn’t just a horror story, it’s a warning. Unless we get a functional commander-in-chief who loves America, we are heading for our own October 7, and the enemy won’t even have to cross the border. Their troops are already here.
Image: Caroline Glick. YouTube screen grab.