The Greatest Failure in Our History

Part 2 of A Research Visit to Israel

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At heart, this is a religious war. Therefore, there cannot be compromise.

Quote from discussion.

Over the period 11-19 December 2023, I visited Israel with colleagues from the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC. Over the week, we were able to speak to a wide range of serving and retired senior military, intelligence and government officials, journalists, think tank personnel and Israeli citizens. Discussions were conducted on background, and as such, I do not identify individuals in this report.

I have split my observations into three temporal elements: before 7 October; the day of 7 October; and events since the 7 October Hamas massacre. My first article, Part 1: Observations on the Lead Up to 7 October, was published yesterday.

As I wrote in Part 1, it is also worth noting two issues up front. First, we were unable to visit Gaza and did not hold discussions with Palestinians. This is important to understand because it means we were exposed to one side of the story. That said, the Israeli story is very important to understand. Second, the observations here are mine, and mine alone. I expect there will be aspects where I lack context or background on certain issues.

Today I cover my observations about the events of 7 October.

I don’t intend to provide a full chronology of 7 October. In many respects that is still being assembled by the Israeli’s. They are yet to conduct a full after-action review of the day, and this is unlikely to occur in any systemic way for some time. However, I will highlight key observations relevant to the day.