Israel’s 9/11

By Shlomo Maital

                           hostages

   Our youngest son, in a WhatsApp message to the family, notes that the murderous Hamas attack on Israeli citizens on October 7 was Israel’s 9/11. 

    True. 

       The 9/11 Commission reported this:   “Shock, Not a Surprise.  The 9/11 attacks were a shock, but they should not have come as a surprise. Islamist extremists had given plenty of warning that they meant to kill Americans indiscriminately and in large numbers. Although Usama Bin Ladin himself would not emerge as a signal threat until the late 1990s, the threat of Islamist terrorism grew over the decade.”

   And re the October 7 attack, in which terrorists in paragliders mowed down young people enjoying a party at Kibbutz Re-im, killing over 250 of them?

    NYT columnist Tom Friedman writes:  “For the past few weeks, as anyone following the news from Israel knows, Hamas was conducting what appeared to be practice maneuvers for just this kind of attack all along the Gaza border — right before the eyes of the Israeli military. 

      “But it appears that Israeli intelligence interpreted the moves as Hamas just trying to mess with the heads of the Israeli military and make commanders a little nervous, not as a prelude for an attack. Israeli intelligence apparently believed that Hamas desperately needed more financial assistance from Qatar, which has given Hamas over $1 billion in aid since 2012, and work permits for Gazans to work in Israel — and both Israel and Qatar have always required a quiet border in return.  ‘The intelligence interpretation is that they were training for something that they would never dare to do,’ Nahum Barnea (Yediot Aharonot) said. ‘It was bad judgment and arrogance.’  Hamas instead launched an incredibly complex and sophisticated invasion from land and sea.”   

    Iran today denied it was complicit in the murderous attack.  Really?

     The Times of Israel reports that on Saturday Sept 2. 2023,  35 days before the surprise attack, “The head of the Hezbollah terror group met with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror chiefs on Saturday amid heightened tensions between Israel and the Lebanese organization, an Iranian proxy, and Israeli warnings in recent weeks it would target terrorists “everywhere” following several recent deadly terror attacks in the West Bank.” 

     And Channel 13:  “Hassan Nasrallah met with Hamas deputy politburo head Saleh al-Arouri and Ziyad al-Nakhala, secretary general of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group, in Lebanon for a meeting on “the latest political developments, especially with regard to the Palestinians,” Israel’s Channel 13 reported, citing a joint statement by the terror groups.”

   Nasrallah, Shiite head of Hezbollah, a terrorist organization, is closely tied to Iran, funded by Iran, and Hezbollah militants are trained in Iran.  Iran operates largely through proxies to cause death and mischief in the Mideast.

    What did  Saleh al-Arouri discuss with Nasrallah?  The Oct. 7 attack.  Why did Israel not treat this meeting with deep concern, instead ignore it?  And use its intelligence gathering to figure out what was discussed? 

      There was advance warning to 9/11.  There was advance warning to Israel re Oct. 7. 

       But one major difference.  Some 2,996 Americans died in 9/11.   Well over 700 Israelis, mainly civilians, were murdered on Oct. 7.  As a proportion of little Israel’s population, this is a massively huge toll.  

       An enormous number of funerals will be held this week.

       When the current war is over, there will be very intensive inquiries into the criminal failure to prepare.