Israel’s Worst Day: ‘Iron Dome’ Fails – OpEd

07 October 2023 is going to be the worst and a shameful day in the history of Israel and the sheer humiliation of its military. And also, to the military historians and academics the world over who look upon to Israel for their modernization in all fields. Israel has always prided itself on the ability of its intelligence services. So, what happened to the Israeli ‘Iron Dome’ on that fateful Saturday?

Surprise Storming by Hamas: That fateful Saturday like any other Saturday was a very quiet morning peaceful Saturday, the last day of the feast of Tabernacles the happiest of all the days of the feast. Tonight, there was supposed to be celebrations across the country with the dancing holding the Torah books because of the end of the cycle of reaching of the Torah and the beginning of another one there were youngsters that had a party all night out in the nature. There were a lot of Israelis that were asleep its Shabbat and there were a lot of soldiers that had no clue that in a few minutes their lives will either end or change forever and then exactly at 6:30am with a barrage of hundreds of rockets in a very daring move Hamas terrorist attacked the Israeli military outposts along the border. Hamas terrorists chose to attack at this Time and Day of celebrations across the country!

How did Hamas manage to breach the ‘Iron Dome’? 

The ‘Iron Dome’ is an Israeli ground-to-air short-range air defence system which intercepts incoming missiles, rockets, even UAVs and destroys them mid-air. The system, which has been successfully standing guard since 2011.It is believed Israel has 10 such systems. Possibly the overwhelming barrage of rockets fired in quick succession confused the system! The defence system has a range of 70 km. The Detection and Tracking radar inside the ‘Iron Dome’ detects the rockets in the air and send the information to weapons control system which then perform quick calculation to detect the trajectory of the incoming projectile and destroys it mid-air. In the midst of the Hamas assault, the ‘Iron Dome’ defense system faced an overwhelming barrage of 5,000 rockets in 20 minutes. Hamas said it had fired 5,000 rockets, while Israel reported some 3,000 incoming projectiles. Several bypassed the Iron Dome missile defence system and smashed into buildings as far as Tel Aviv.

Amir Tsarfati an Israeli public figure, author, Bible teacher, Middle East news correspondent and commentator commented that only Russia had the capability to disable the ‘Iron Dome’ defense system through firing drones into the system through the Hamas.

Hamas was conducting what appeared to be practice maneuvers for just this kind of attack all along the Gaza border right under the eyes of the Israeli military. It appears that Israeli intelligence interpreted the moves as that Hamas desperately needed more financial assistance from Qatar, which has given Hamas over $1 billion since 2012. Hamas has been a deadly curse for the Palestinian people since it took over Gaza in 2007 and has devoted most of the funds, resources and its energies to digging tunnels into Israel and building rockets to try to destroy a more powerful enemy thus depriving Gazans of any chance of a decent development and a democratic life.

Hamas penetrated into Israel at 22 locations through the Gaza Strip and as deep as 15 miles inside and it even took Israeli hostages back to Gaza across the border where Israel had spent roughly $1 billion erecting a barrier that was supposed to be virtually impenetrable. The Gaza-Israel border is only 37 miles long. 

The Gaza Strip is a small area bordering Israel and Egypt on the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of two Palestinian territories. The other is the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which includes East Jerusalem and borders Jordan and the Dead Sea. The Gaza Strip is a 41km long and 10km-wide territory between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea about 325 square km. It is home to about 2.3 million people and has one of the highest population densities in the world.

ISIS-Taliban Strategies Tweet By Amrullah Saleh (Former Acting President of Afghanistan); I had done a thorough study of ISIS, Taliban booklets and strategies, which are strikingly identical to each other, about spectacular urban attacks. “Humiliate your enemy and show he is incapable of defending the civilians and the civilian infrastructure. Make him angry and vengeful. Let him use his weapon and military power in anger which will lead to civilian casualties. This way you practically bring him into the field of your choosing. It is the age of information so use the images of the civilian casualties in your favor and generate sympathy. Break the myth of his “State status”.  If he keeps killing and causing civilian casualties, you win. If he stops the fight you win. If he chases you through surgical operation, it will not satisfy his ego. The ensuing stalemate will be in your interest. Keep planning. Never pay attention to the so-called cry of the civilians. They may be set up by your enemy. Aim to break the will of the population and shatter their confidence in their State. All societies are vulnerable”.

Israel Declares an All-Out War on Hamas

Netanyahu promised on Saturday to deliver a crushing blow to Hamas in Gaza and has declared an all-out war on Hamas. Everything the army does in Gaza going forward will require them to take into account the impact it could have on the lives of civilian hostages. Hamas has already started to talk about exchange of prisoners and kidnapped people. The Israeli defence minister has announced cutting off all supplies to Gaza, invade and take it under its control.

A former director general of the Israeli Defense Ministry, Dan Harel; “I have never seen our national security in a worse state” and that there has already been damage to the reserve units of essential Israel Defense Forces formations, “which has reduced readiness and operational capability.”

Why did Hamas launch this war now, without any provocation? One has to wonder if it was not on behest of Russia, China or a combine. Iran is an important supplier of arms to Hamas, to help prevent the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabiaand Israel. Or shift the US-NATO attention and resources from the Ukraine war or shift the focus from the South China Sea to this Region. President Putin; “Just imagine the aid stops tomorrow.” Ukraine “will live for only a week when they run out of ammo.”

 How Hamas attack caught Israel off-guard (TG Channel Military Chronicle: Pro Russian):

• Israel did not know about the preparations for the attack. Gaza strip a narrow piece of land was believed to have been bugged and monitored by the Israeli army and intelligence services, but during the attack it turned out that this was not the case. Presumably, Hamas developed a system for coordination and communication that excluded electronic contacts, and somehow the Palestinians managed to hide everything from Israeli intelligence.
• Israel was unable to prevent the attack. Shortly before the attack on checkpoints on October 7, Hamas deployed MLRS, ground forces, paragliders and other equipment. The preparations went unnoticed, and the Israeli preemptive strike failed to be launched.
• Alarm system at the border did not work. The electronic systems at the border, which Israel had invested billions of dollars in building and equipping, were rendered useless. Numerous cameras and sensors also did not help detect and stop the Hamas attack. Palestinian drones were able to easily hit automatic machine guns and sensor towers. Hamas assault teams blew up the fence and crossed the border. Due to the failure of the alarm, hundreds of IDF soldiers were killed in the camps while sleeping.
• Hamas Tactics. Contrary to popular belief, the Hamas did not bypass IDF fortifications and bases. They aggressively stormed checkpoints and bases where armored vehicles were placed. It is still unclear where the security guards on duty and reaction teams were located at that time. The Israeli Merkava Mk.4 tank was destroyed by a copter drop. The footage of the capture of the crew clearly shows that the vehicle’s gun was covered. This suggests that the crew was not prepared for battle.
• Israel’s foreign ministry has claimed that around 84 nations have released statements supporting Israel condemning the Hamas attacks and backing Israel’s right to Self-Defence. Many countries, especially in the Middle East have praised the Hamas surprise assault on Israel.

US support for Israel: US President Joe Biden has maintained that the US support for Israel was “Rock Solid and Unwavering”. In a show of support, Biden has also ordered US ships and warplanes to move closer to Israel and sent fresh military aid. The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R Ford and its accompanying warships are also moving to the eastern Mediterranean while boosting fighter aircraft squadrons in the region.

This surprise Hamas attack has shifted the focus from the Ukraine War to Israel-Palestine issue. The geo-political impact of this war will be global and not remain localised to Israel and the Palestinians of Gaza. It will spread to Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Iran and many more. Prolonged Israel-Hamas war could divert US military equipment needed by Ukraine to Israel, and it will make the proposed Saudi-Israeli normalization deal impossible for now. This Hamas-Israel war has surprised the world and has thrust the world further into a dangerous situation on multiple fronts a step further towards a World War!

Israel’s foreign ministry has claimed that around 84 nations have released statements supporting Israel condemning the Hamas attacks and backing Israel’s right to Self-Defence. Many countries, especially in the Middle East have praised the Hamas surprise assault on Israel.

References:

• New York Times Oct 7: Thomas L Friedman
• TG Channel Military Chronicle: Pro Russian