Alex Traiman
JNS, Oct. 7, 2023
“The security failings raise the question of whether the Simchat Torah attack will be Prime Minister Netanyahu’s “Golda moment.””
Many questions and few answers abound as Israel has suffered its worst homefront attack, and perhaps its worst security and intelligence failure in the past fifty years. Instead of peacefully celebrating the completion of the yearly Torah-reading cycle, Israelis awoke to sirens and explosions on one of the holiest days of the Jewish calendar, Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah.
At least 250 Israelis, though likely many more, are reported killed and well over 1,000 have been injured from a massive, coordinated infiltration into Israel from the Gaza Strip. Several dozen Israelis were taken hostage, some held within their hometowns and others taken into the Gaza Strip. In addition, over 5,000 rockets have been fired in one of the most punishing single-day barrages since Israel left the Gaza Strip in 2005.
Unimaginable blow
Graphic pictures and videos are circulating on social media channels of Israelis, including young women and children, as well as soldiers being held hostage, tortured, or killed and then continuously battered by barbarians who glorify the murder of Jews in their ancestral homeland.
Less than a day into what Israeli Prime Minister has defined as a full-fledged war, Hamas has handed Israel an unimaginable blow. The length and intensity of fighting that will unfold is presently unknown on either side, as is what price Israelis and Gazans will ultimately pay. Meanwhile, the scope of any Israeli counterattack has yet to be announced, let alone felt in the Gaza Strip.
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