With regard to the perennial anti-Semitism that has flared up so much of late, I like this remark from David Goldman, writing at Tablet: "Antisemitism is the grudge against the living borne by the soon-to-be dead." Be well.
"I am not talking about replacing the IDF Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi at that point – but of at least some of those under him who were, for lack of a better phrase, AWOL on October 7 ought to have been fired. How have you not demanded that the names of the recipients of the top secret information stolen by the October 7 spy not be released so we can have confidence that they are not now in places of responsibility?"
Ira, please in future 'Stacks elaborate on these points. Who was AWOL?
Who was the "October 7 spy"? What is this in the first place - believe me, we in the US haven't heard any of this at all. There was a spy and he had a ring of recipients?? I'm flabbergasted!
i say AWOL metaphorically. I find it hard to believe they just didn't show up. But they weren't ready and they apparently waited for orders when officers in the army just went and fought.
I get your point - it's a bit awkward communicating this way but I got the implication.
We'd have to know the precise chronology to nail this down, and we never will.
Or an individual in a position to give us the truth has to write a full account of what happened that black day, which will also never happen.
But - and again, I'm just guessing here - I strongly suspect that there were orders from above. Vague, not very precise orders. And they were blown off.
If that sounds unbelievable, think of the hysteria the Kaplan Street crowd whipped themselves into only a few weeks before saying *exactly that.*
However, I'm not sure what you mean by "officers in the army just went and fought." It still took hours for them to do anything.
The lack of preparedness is absolutely unbelievable.
As I said, if I called 911, I'd at least expect a couple of cops to show up.
********
Having said all this, I acknowledge that it's conjecture on my part.
Most of all, I ascribe this to arrogance. Someone said that living in the Gaza envelope and not carrying an assault rifle was like that guy who went to live with grizzly bears. He ended up in their stomachs.
I hope we will know the chronology at some point. It just takes a dedicated journalist to interview the many people involved. We will know what - although not necessarily why.
the officers that went down to fight were those that went down without orders after they heard what was happening. My 3 sons went to their units immediately. One was in the center, one up north - one went down south. He has stories of heroics that you wouldn't believe. Many were killed. The senior command was AWOL too - they were in shock.
Yes - Arrogance was it mostly. The thought that they couldn't be wrong and therefore all data must point to something else.
As far as I know (and I know a little, only rumors) we are not talking about the harm done to Israel. In any case, it was not malicious intent. But this was the fact.
The fact remains that somebody took great risk to break into the Southern Command intelligence offices, was there for a week, stole lots of top secret information and gave that information to someone.
It is serious even if it was not successful and was not passed on to enemies per se.
It went to someone or some group of people. The attorney who knows all the details says the recipients are all well known to the public and the country would shake if it knew who they were.
The fact that the security and justice establishment watches out for itself and its friends is well known in Israel (and elsewhere).
A good journalist not in Israel should be able to find details very easily - and get the news out without risk of arrest.
I think the success in tactics and the success of the troops on the ground has blinded the General Staff and the War Cabinet into thinking their strategy was correct.
With regard to the perennial anti-Semitism that has flared up so much of late, I like this remark from David Goldman, writing at Tablet: "Antisemitism is the grudge against the living borne by the soon-to-be dead." Be well.
Thank you for that - what an insightful article that is.
I'm buying the stamp for this letter.
I think it needs to be hand delivered.
I love this. I can feel the heart you put in it. It shows you care enough to tell him hard truths & you want Israel to win. 🥰 I LOVE Bibi BTW too!
"I am not talking about replacing the IDF Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi at that point – but of at least some of those under him who were, for lack of a better phrase, AWOL on October 7 ought to have been fired. How have you not demanded that the names of the recipients of the top secret information stolen by the October 7 spy not be released so we can have confidence that they are not now in places of responsibility?"
Ira, please in future 'Stacks elaborate on these points. Who was AWOL?
Who was the "October 7 spy"? What is this in the first place - believe me, we in the US haven't heard any of this at all. There was a spy and he had a ring of recipients?? I'm flabbergasted!
For October 7 spy- see my essay on it.
https://open.substack.com/pub/iraslomowitz/p/the-case-of-october-7-israeli-spy?r=2xynd&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
Awol? The air force didn't show up until 2:30pm. And others.
Thanks, I'll read.
RE: AWOL. OK.
I guessed here that they openly disobeyed orders to show up:
https://technium.substack.com/p/the-arrogance-of-the-nimrods
i say AWOL metaphorically. I find it hard to believe they just didn't show up. But they weren't ready and they apparently waited for orders when officers in the army just went and fought.
I get your point - it's a bit awkward communicating this way but I got the implication.
We'd have to know the precise chronology to nail this down, and we never will.
Or an individual in a position to give us the truth has to write a full account of what happened that black day, which will also never happen.
But - and again, I'm just guessing here - I strongly suspect that there were orders from above. Vague, not very precise orders. And they were blown off.
If that sounds unbelievable, think of the hysteria the Kaplan Street crowd whipped themselves into only a few weeks before saying *exactly that.*
However, I'm not sure what you mean by "officers in the army just went and fought." It still took hours for them to do anything.
The lack of preparedness is absolutely unbelievable.
As I said, if I called 911, I'd at least expect a couple of cops to show up.
********
Having said all this, I acknowledge that it's conjecture on my part.
Most of all, I ascribe this to arrogance. Someone said that living in the Gaza envelope and not carrying an assault rifle was like that guy who went to live with grizzly bears. He ended up in their stomachs.
I hope we will know the chronology at some point. It just takes a dedicated journalist to interview the many people involved. We will know what - although not necessarily why.
the officers that went down to fight were those that went down without orders after they heard what was happening. My 3 sons went to their units immediately. One was in the center, one up north - one went down south. He has stories of heroics that you wouldn't believe. Many were killed. The senior command was AWOL too - they were in shock.
Yes - Arrogance was it mostly. The thought that they couldn't be wrong and therefore all data must point to something else.
"He has stories of heroics that you wouldn't believe. Many were killed. The senior command was AWOL too - they were in shock."
I hope one day they tell their stories. We need to hear these stories. Maybe on your 'Stack, when they're ready to tell them.
As far as I know (and I know a little, only rumors) we are not talking about the harm done to Israel. In any case, it was not malicious intent. But this was the fact.
The fact remains that somebody took great risk to break into the Southern Command intelligence offices, was there for a week, stole lots of top secret information and gave that information to someone.
It is serious even if it was not successful and was not passed on to enemies per se.
It went to someone or some group of people. The attorney who knows all the details says the recipients are all well known to the public and the country would shake if it knew who they were.
The fact that the security and justice establishment watches out for itself and its friends is well known in Israel (and elsewhere).
A good journalist not in Israel should be able to find details very easily - and get the news out without risk of arrest.
I think the success in tactics and the success of the troops on the ground has blinded the General Staff and the War Cabinet into thinking their strategy was correct.