It’s my personal contention that the Israeli Prime Minister is a smarter version of the GOP MAGA US ex-president but he’s just as untrustworthy. In short, there’s no way the US can afford to wait until Israel dismantles the military and political power of HAMAS which could take years, before the US and other world leaders step up to hold Mr. Netanyahu’s feet to the fire. This is because Mr. Netanyahu with his right-wing cohorts have been wanting to pull the US into conflict with Iran and this war opens the door as HAMAS is mostly backed by Iran.

My question is still, what intelligence did PM Netanyahu and his right-wing power brokers possess that explains how they were able to discount out of hand specific data detailing how HAMAS would prosecute this October 2023 war against Israel, as in a 40-page document in Israeli hands for over a year plus frontline information regarding recent war-like training maneuvers by HAMAS?

I don’t want to wait years for an answer.

As per authors Peter Baker and Farnaz Fassidi of the updated October 18, 2023 NY Times article, “Fearing Escalation, Biden Seeks to Deter Iran and Hezbollah,” POTUS Biden has been actively taking steps to prevent any escalation. (He has also been pushing for war pauses, to allow for the negotiating for the release of all hostages held in GAZA as he keeps warning Israel to minimize civilian casualties in GAZA.)

Excerpts:

“The Biden administration has grown increasingly anxious in recent days that Israel’s enemies may seek to widen the war with Hamas by opening new fronts, a move that could compel the US to enter the conflict directly with air and naval forces to defend its closest ally in the region.”

“The administration has sought to use diplomatic and military avenues to head off any expansion. The Pentagon dispatched a second aircraft carrier to the region over the weekend along with additional land-based warplanes, even as Washington sent back-channel messages to Iran through intermediaries in Qatar, Oman and China warning against escalation.”

“Fears of a second front deepened on Sunday as intense clashes broke out along Israel’s northern border. Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia that controls southern Lebanon, fired missiles into Israel, and Israel responded with artillery fire and airstrikes. A full-fledged attack on the north could overwhelm Israel, as most of its forces are focused on a potential ground invasion of Gaza, in the south.”

“Some experts warned that such a scenario remains frighteningly possible because Israel’s vulnerability was exposed by Hamas’s surprise attack that killed more than 1,300 people, including at least 29 Americans. Hezbollah poses a markedly more serious threat to Israel than Hamas because of its vast arsenal of precision-guided missiles and thousands of experienced and well-trained fighters. Iran and Hezbollah may decide this is a moment of maximum opportunity to take on a wounded Israel, which is focused on recovering 150 hostages and destroying Hamas as a viable organization in Gaza.”

“Martin S. Indyk, a former ambassador to Israel and Middle East special envoy, put the odds of a wider war at 50-50. “The potential for it to spread not only to Lebanon but beyond Lebanon is very high,” he said in an interview. “That’s why you see the administration so actively engaged in trying to fend them off, which they normally wouldn’t have to do if there hadn’t been such a big blow to Israel’s deterrence.”

As per Alan Pinkas, author of the November 30, 2023 Guardian report, “Netanyahu is stuck as he battles Hamas: he can’t afford to lose but can’t find a way to win:”

“Benjamin Netanyahu should have resigned after an hour,…after the 7 October debacle, the most horrific day in Israel’s history. He did not, because he isn’t wired that way. Accountability and integrity are alien concepts reserved for the weak and feeble – not for him. He is not merely defiant, but terrified that his trial for corruption and bribery would proceed if he was to resign.”

“Ever since 6:29am on 7 October, he has been on the defensive; trying to salvage himself by deflecting responsibility on to the military and the Shabak (Israel’s internal security service), blaming faulty intelligence (he’s been forced to backtrack on this claim) and devising a parallel narrative in which he is now leading Israel in a second formative war of independence to try to save western civilisation from Islamo-fascism. A man who likens himself to Winston Churchill has fallen short of the example set by Neville Chamberlain, who resigned in 1940 after the German conquest of Norway.”

“The trajectory of the war puts two sets of pressures on Netanyahu: one is domestic and the other is American. Netanyahu has a major credibility deficit in the US.”

“With Joe Biden it was compounded during the first nine months of 2023, when the Israeli prime minister launched a constitutional coup disguised thinly as “judicial reform”. Biden publicly disapproved of Netanyahu’s authoritarian turn and noticeably refrained from inviting him to Washington during that period.”

“On the eve of 7 October, the United States was on a clear course to disengage from the Middle East. The reasons were many: its attainment of energy independence, fatigue and disillusionment with costly wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well a strategic shift to the Indo-Pacific region and a recognition that the main challenge is now posed by China. But this strategy was shattered by 7 October, as the likelihood of “horizontal escalation” increased: the possibility that the war could lead to conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Washington was concerned this could conceivably drag the US into active military involvement against Iran. This is why the US has put pressure on Israel to scale down military operations in Gaza and continue the series of truces.”

“Then comes the issue of “the day after”. The US has asked, and keeps asking, Israel about its vision of postwar Gaza and the political vacuum that’ll be left if Hamas is eliminated. Who will govern? Does Israel intend to stay? For how long? Will it assume governance responsibilities? Netanyahu has so far evaded the issue, with hollow one-liners such as: “There will be no Hamas.”’ As far as the Americans are concerned, Netanyahu’s reluctance to address the issue increases the likelihood of eventual escalation and reflects his cluelessness and indifference. It was Netanyahu, after all, who actively strengthened Hamas to weaken the Palestinian Authority.”

The following article explains how the PM Netanyahu propped up HAMAS in GAZA while cutting off the legs of the Palestinian Authority in its ability to be responsive to the needs of Palestinians in the West Bank…

As per Paul Nuki, author of the October 16, 2023 Telegraph article, “How Benjamin Netanyahu empowered Hamas… and broke Israel,” “There is a reasonable chance Benjamin Netanyahu will be remembered as both Hamas’s nemesis and its enabler.”

“Today, and for however long it takes the Israel Defense Force (IDF) to neuter the military wing of the Islamist group in Gaza, the great bulk of the country’s body politic will stand behind its leader. In Gaza at least, Hamas’s capacity to wage jihad will be crushed, together with much of the political and paramilitary infrastructure through which it governs, analysts expect. Although sharply cognisant of the attendant risks, few in the Israeli mainstream  believe they have much choice given the terrible events of Oct 7.”

“Yet national unity is being delivered through gritted teeth. Recent polling shows a significant majority of Israelis blame Mr Netanyahu not just for the military and intelligence failures that allowed the attack but for “propping up” the terrorist group in the first place.”

“For years, the various governments led by Benjamin Netanyahu took an approach that divided power between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank – bringing Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas to his knees while making moves that propped up the Hamas terror group”, wrote political correspondent Tal Schneider in the Times of Israel last week. “The idea was to prevent Abbas – or anyone else in the Palestinian Authority’s West Bank government – from advancing toward the establishment of a Palestinian state”.

“Dmitry Shumsky, a columnist for Haaretz, took a similar line, arguing that Mr Netanyahu had pursued a policy of “diplomatic paralysis” in order to avoid negotiations with the Palestinians over a two-state solution – a solution despised by the country’s extreme Right. This flawed strategy turned Hamas from “a minor terrorist group into an efficient, lethal army with bloodthirsty killers who mercilessly slaughtered innocent Israeli civilians”, said Mr Shumsky.”

“Mr Netanyahu (at the very least) found it convenient that there was division in Palestinian politics and allowed it to thrive to Hamas’s benefit.”

“Certainly, the various coalition governments he has led in recent years can be seen to have had the effect of aiding the (HAMAS) movement.”

“Despite being formally designated a terrorist organisation by Israel, the US and much of the West, Mr Netanyahu has largely ignored military provocation from the group since the last major Israeli ground incursion of 2014, and has simultaneously allowed huge sums of cash to flow into Gaza.”

“The money is said to have come in suitcases via Qatar, where Hamas’s political leadership is based, but also via trade with Israel that has boomed in recent years as tens of thousands of cross-border work permits have been issued to Gazans”.

“Although careful in public, in early 2019 Mr Netanyahu was quoted as saying behind closed doors that those who opposed a two-state solution should support the transfer of funds to Gaza, because it worked against Palestinian unity, according to the Times of Israel.”

“Others point to more mundane reasons for the Oct 7 intelligence failure, notably the ongoing corruption scandal that has plagued Mr Netanyahu and distracted him and the religiously motivated demands of his far-Right coalition partners, which have seen military resources diverted to settlements on the West Bank.”

“At the tense opening session of the Knesset’s winter session on Monday, Mr Netanyahu sought to rally the nation, branding Hamas as part of Iran’s “axis of evil.” He added, however, that there were “many questions surrounding the disaster that befell us 10 days ago” and promised they would be investigated in “every aspect” after the current military mission was completed.”

See: For years, Netanyahu propped up Hamas. Now it’s … – The Times …