Israeli soldiers who warned about impending attack were threatened, says report
Israel Defense Force (IDF) soldiers who warned their superiors about an impending attack in the months leading up to the October 7th massacre were threatened with court martial, according to Israeli media.
A report published Saturday by Israel’s Channel 12 revealed testimonies from “observers” — border patrol units who are tasked with closely surveying the border via computer monitors. These soldiers, who are predominantly female, work in shifts so that all border activity is being watched 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Some observers on the Israel-Gaza border reported seeing strange activity prior to October 7th. One said she spotted new faces she was not used to seeing. Israel’s border is lined with facial recognition cameras, which were reportedly picking up some unknown faces near the border. Observers also noticed that Muslim farmers who worked in the fields near the border disappeared and were suddenly replaced by people they had not seen before. More individuals were being spotted near the border fence.
The observers reported these and other “training, anomalies and preparations” they had witnessed to their commanders but were snubbed. When one observer went to a senior commander with her concerns, she was told, “I don't want to hear about this nonsense again. If you bother with these things again, you will stand trial.”
Another commander, when told of these “red flags,” reportedly said, “Hamas are just a bunch of punks, they won't do anything.”
"I wasn't seeing things; it wasn't something usual," an observer said, according to the Jerusalem Post. "We saw a ton of exercises. We would always look at them as if it was Channel 12. It was fun. It was interesting that they were doing exercises."
"We would look at this and say [to each other], 'f&%*, come on—is this going to be against us one day, this s&*% that we're so indifferent about?’”
The report comes as security analysts and Israeli taxpayers try to understand Israel’s failure to prevent the attack. Israel’s intelligence forces — including the IDF, Mossad, and the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency — have for decades been considered legendary by international security experts. Israel’s security apparatus includes technology so advanced that even small animals cannot approach Israel’s border without alerting authorities.
Approximately 80% of Israelis reportedly blame Israel’s government for the massacre. One of them is Avichai Brodetz, whose wife and three children are among nearly 240 Israeli hostages in Gaza.
"My family was not kidnapped because of Hamas, my family was kidnapped because there was no army to protect me, that's the reason," Brodetz told Knesset Member Boaz Bismuth in an interview last Saturday. "Hamas is very small compared to the State of Israel, the army could easily repel Hamas, the entire concept of the IDF collapsed, Hamas understood this, was much smarter than us, carried out a brilliant operation, raped our wives and slaughtered our children, because the IDF wasn't there. So it didn't happen because of Hamas, but because of your concepts. How easy it was to repel Hamas with fighter jets and tanks - which simply weren't there."
"You live in a fantasy and blame Hamas, and you are guilty, you are guilty of that,” Brodetz continued. “I saw them coming towards my house, with my eyes, and what did I not see? I did not see tanks, and I did not see helicopters, or soldiers, I did not see anything. The problem is you guys — get this through your head, and then maybe you'll solve this problem.”
Some analysts are pointing to Israel’s increased acceptance of Muslim workers from Gaza over the last few years as a causal factor in last month’s massacre. At the urging of the Biden administration, former Israel Prime Minister Naftali Bennett increased the daily number of Gaza work permits issued to 15,000. Just prior to the attack, 17,500 daily work permits were being issued to Muslims from Gaza and the government was considering increasing the number to 20,000.
According to a FrontPageMag report, some of the belongings left behind by October 7th’s Islamic attackers included work permits provided by Israel’s government.
