Haaretz: Two reasons behind Hamas’ attack on the 7th of October
Haaretz quoted a senior Israeli political official as saying that two main reasons were behind the attack of October 7.
In an analytical article titled “No Secret Police: Israel’s Shin Bet Refuses to Intensify Surveillance of Anti-Netanyahu Protesters,” the official said, “Intelligence clearly shows that they (Hamas) understood that the country had been greatly weakened as a result of the internal conflict”.
“They discussed and asked themselves whether they should allow Israel to fall on its own, or attack and accelerate its fall”.
“Another obvious reason for the attack was what they saw as erosion and violation of the status quo in Jerusalem; as Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar is a very religious person who often begins his conversations with quotes from the Quran”.
On the other hand, Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin ignited the powder keg of the judicial coup in Israel, while National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir set it on fire with his frequent visits to the Temple Mount.
He said both figures had contributed decisively to the disaster in October.
“The government’s rebellion against Israeli democracy continued during the war, albeit not at the deafening level of voice as before”.
The government’s efforts to take over law enforcement and eliminate the country’s escalating protest movement aren’t limited to the aggressive pressure exerted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir on law enforcement.
“The Shin Bet security service also conducts security screening of prominent public figures, which means it has access to sensitive and relevant information about them that politicians should not have… One can only imagine what would happen if the Shin Bet were headed by someone who served the government and fought with all his might for survival”.
The article cited passages from a document the agency confiscated from the home of Meir Ettinger, the grandson of extremist rabbi Meir Kahane, who was arrested in 2015 after the terrorist attack in which the Palestinian Dawabsha family was killed in a village in the West Bank.
The Shin Bet found the document when it raided the homes of a number of far-right activists led by Ettinger.
“Israel has a lot of weaknesses; What we’re going to do, is simply ignite all these powder kegs, all the questions and contradictions between Judaism and democracy, between Jewish character and Jewish identity”.
“A secular figure, without fear of consequences… Break all the rules and the status quo; Rebellion won’t allow the state to exist in the same way,” the article added.
The document was described as a “business plan for a secret movement” called the Insurgency, which Ettinger is suspected of heading.
He commented that it now looks like a guide to the work of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s sixth government.
