In squabble over Gaza war intel, echoes of 1973’s failure
Hatra’a lemilhama – advance warning of a war – are words that reek of the intelligence failure of the Yom Kippur War; words that end careers, and sometimes lives, in Israel. Hence the extraordinary letter from IDF Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, published in Thursday’s Yedioth Ahronoth.
“I hereby firmly declare that the Shin Bet did not pass on an advance warning, and did not warn, about Hamas intentions for war in July,” Gantz wrote. The Shin Bet security service, he added, violated “every moral and ethical norm” by indicating otherwise in a TV documentary aired Monday.
In the show, “Uvda” with Ilana Dayan – one of Israel’s most highly regarded investigative news programs – a senior officer in the Shin Bet’s southern command identified as R, said that “in effect it starts in January. We begin to understand that it (Hamas) is starting to train for a campaign or a war with Israel at the end of June.”
Shin Bet commander Yoram Cohen, according to the program, stated in a cabinet meeting two days after the war: We knew and we warned a long time ago about a war in July.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/in-squabble-over-gaza-war-intel-echoes-of-1973s-failure/
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