NYT Makes Bombshell Claim That Israel Massively Dropped the Ball During Hamas Attack
Israeli officials dismissed the possibility of a deadly attack by the Hamas terror organization as beyond the organization’s capabilities a year prior to the October 7 incursion into Israel that left 1,200 Israelis dead and hundreds more kidnapped to be used as hostages, The New York Times reported last month.
In the November 30 article, which has since been updated, the Times said that a translated document reviewed by the outlet described a plan that Hamas followed closely in its barbaric attack into Israel.
“Hamas followed the blueprint with shocking precision,” according to the Times.
“The document called for a barrage of rockets at the outset of the attack, drones to knock out the security cameras and automated machine guns along the border, and gunmen to pour into Israel en masse in paragliders, on motorcycles and on foot — all of which happened on Oct. 7.”
The document, code-named “Jericho Wall” by the Israelis, included 40 pages of a “methodical assault,” as well as information about potential targets of interest and Israeli military dispostions.
The detailed nature of the information engendered questions about how Hamas had obtained such accurate intelligence and raised the possibility of intelligence leaks within Israeli forces.
The outline began with a quote from the Quran, according to the Times: “Surprise them through the gate. If you do, you will certainly prevail.”
The Times noted that the same quotation has appeared in many statements from Hamas since the barbaric October 7 attacks.
While the Times was uncertain as to how high up the chain of command “Jericho Wall” had reached, it said it had been “circulated widely” among leaders in the Israeli military and security apparatus.
At the time the document was first reviewed by Israel, it was unknown whether it was an actual war plan or mere wishful thinking. “It is not yet possible to determine whether the plan has been fully accepted and how it will be manifested,” one analysis read, according to the outlet.
However, Israeli intelligence noted training exercises being conducted in July by the Hamas terrorists, and at least one analyst marked the similarity between the training and the “Jericho Wall” plans.
“I utterly refute that the scenario is imaginary,” the analyst wrote in a series of emails.
“It is a plan designed to start a war,” she added, according to the Times. “It’s not just a raid on a village.”
A colonel assigned to Gaza disagreed however, remaining adamant that such an attack remained beyond Hamas’ capabilities.
Unnamed officials, however, told the Times that had the warning been heeded in July, “Israel could have blunted the attacks or possibly even prevented them.”
However, the Israeli government had become convinced over time that Hamas could never launch such an attack, even though the country’s defense ministry as early as 2016 had warned that Hamas “intends” to do just that.
A memo cited by the times listed new weapons systems Hamas had obtained by that time, as well as noting increases to its number of armed combatants.
Israeli forces in Gaza nonetheless referred to the plan as a “compass,” not an actual war plan, with one colonel referring to the July training as “totally imaginative” on Hamas’ part and suggesting Israel “wait patiently.”
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