In colossal intelligence failure, Israel caught asleep at the wheel at end of Jewish holiday

In what seems to be a colossal intelligence failure for Israel, the country was caught completely off guard on Saturday morning when the armed wing of Palestinian group Hamas launched more than 5,000 rockets and targeted civilians killing several and even taking a few hostage. The biggest such attack on Israel in recent years has pushed the country into a “state of war”. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country is at war and Hamas will pay an unprecedented price. “Citizens of Israel, we are at war. This is not an operation, not an escalation – this is war. And we will win. Hamas will pay an unprecedented price,” he told Israelis in a video message. What is surprising is the fact that the country which has one of the most extensive and sophisticated intelligence networks in West Asia, both domestic and external, was caught unawares. Israel, it is well known, has informants embedded inside militant groups not just in the Palestinian territories but in Lebanon, Syria and elsewhere across the region. The country has, in the past, been able to assassinate militant leaders either with precision drone strikes or even booby-trapped mobile phones. And yet today, at the end of a Jewish holiday, it appears to have been caught asleep at the wheel. Hamas, known for deadly terror strikes has been able to plan and launch this carefully coordinated assault on Israel seemingly in total secrecy. It is also a given that Israel will retaliate with massive force and cause possibly more damage to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. But Israelis will now be asking why their nation’s spies failed to see this coming and warn the country accordingly. Earlier on Saturday morning, dozens of gunmen from the Islamist militant group Hamas infiltrated southern Israel killing civilians and shooting at them mercilessly. Media reports claimed that the Israeli military has already started responding to “the barrages of rockets” fired by Hamas. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has in a social media post said it has so far attacked 17 military compounds and four Hamas operational headquarters as part of retaliatory measures. What also does not come as a surprise is the fact that Iran has supported the terrorist strike on Israel. Allegedly, the advisor to Iran’s Supreme leader Ali Khamenei has put out a statement that clearly supports the Palestinian attack on Israel. “We congratulate the Palestinian fighters,” Rahim Safavi was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency. “We will stand by the Palestinian fighters until the liberation of Palestine and Jerusalem,” he said.