From the Week quoting AP - “Meanwhile, an Egyptian intelligence official told the Associated Press that Netanyahu ignored his warning last week that "something big" was coming. Israel dismissed the claim as "totally fake news”
Im sure i’ve read somewhere, probably in the FT, that Egypt warned that something was up, but that it was dismissed by Israel. Tallies with what you are saying and hardly a surprise.
Thanks Simon since writing it’s become pretty clear that Egypt did know something (not surprising) but somehow this failed to reach Netanyahu. It certainly suggest severe dysfunction in his administration which isn’t surprising.
The right wing government of Netanyahu has shown an unequivocally racist attitude towards the Palestinians. There is a strong possibility that in despising the Palestinians they have also underestimated them.
The barrage of grim stories of Israelis who have suffered at the hands of Hamas fighters, is in stark contrast to the silence over the daily assaults, killings, land and people grabs carried out by Israeli forces and civilian settlers that the Palestinians have experienced over decades. The idea that Israel only targets specific military objectives is as laughable as Putin’s claims about his bombings of Ukraine. As multiple independent journalists have witnessed.
A massive assault on Gaza can only make things worse.
I think the thing about underestimating is very possible. It's believable that the anti-Arab voices in Bibi's team decided that Hamas was incapable of something on this scale.
He:) I see where the PS came from ;)
From the Week quoting AP - “Meanwhile, an Egyptian intelligence official told the Associated Press that Netanyahu ignored his warning last week that "something big" was coming. Israel dismissed the claim as "totally fake news”
Im sure i’ve read somewhere, probably in the FT, that Egypt warned that something was up, but that it was dismissed by Israel. Tallies with what you are saying and hardly a surprise.
Thanks Simon since writing it’s become pretty clear that Egypt did know something (not surprising) but somehow this failed to reach Netanyahu. It certainly suggest severe dysfunction in his administration which isn’t surprising.
The right wing government of Netanyahu has shown an unequivocally racist attitude towards the Palestinians. There is a strong possibility that in despising the Palestinians they have also underestimated them.
The barrage of grim stories of Israelis who have suffered at the hands of Hamas fighters, is in stark contrast to the silence over the daily assaults, killings, land and people grabs carried out by Israeli forces and civilian settlers that the Palestinians have experienced over decades. The idea that Israel only targets specific military objectives is as laughable as Putin’s claims about his bombings of Ukraine. As multiple independent journalists have witnessed.
A massive assault on Gaza can only make things worse.
I think the thing about underestimating is very possible. It's believable that the anti-Arab voices in Bibi's team decided that Hamas was incapable of something on this scale.