Money more important than fighting?
Insider: Hamas outsmarted Israel with deception
October 10, 2023, 12:30 p.m
The fact that Israel is surprised by Hamas’ attack is apparently due, among other things, to a large-scale deception maneuver. The terrorist organization used “unprecedented intelligence tactics,” said an insider.
Hamas apparently also used a deceptive maneuver in the attack on Israel. This is reported by the Reuters news agency, citing a source close to Hamas. “Hamas has given the impression that it is not prepared to fight,” it said.
“In recent months, Hamas has used unprecedented intelligence tactics to mislead Israel. It publicly gave the impression that it was unwilling to engage in combat or confrontation with Israel. Meanwhile, it was preparing for this massive operation.” said the source.
Israel admitted that it was taken by surprise by the attack. This was the only way the Hamas fighters stormed across the border into Israel and the massacre that followed was possible. “They surprised us and they came quickly from many places – both from the air, from the ground and from the sea,” said Major Nir Dinar, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). “This is our 9/11.”
Even a settlement recreated
The insider told Reuters that fighters from the terrorist group were trained and drilled while Israel was deceived into believing that the supposedly war-weary Hamas could be contained through economic incentives. The training of the fighters sometimes took place in public. Hamas made it appear to the outside world that it was more important to them that the Palestinians had work and access to jobs across the border.
“They made us believe that they wanted money,” an Israeli security insider told Reuters. Since 2021, Israel has issued thousands of work permits. With them, residents of the Gaza Strip could work in Israel or the West Bank.
According to the Hamas insider, the biggest coup was the reconstruction of an Israeli settlement in the Gaza Strip, where Hamas carried out a military storming. There are even videos of the maneuvers. “Israel certainly saw them, but was convinced that Hamas was not looking for a confrontation,” the insider said.
Fighters didn’t know about deployment
The concealment went so far that the fighters themselves were said to have known nothing about their upcoming mission. Ali Barakeh, a member of the group’s exiled leadership in Beirut, also confirmed this to the AP news agency: “Only a handful of Hamas commanders knew about zero hour.” Even close allies were not informed.
Hamas’ reluctance to fight against Israel had even been publicly criticized by some of the terrorist group’s supporters and those in the West Bank. In a statement in June 2022, the West Bank’s ruling Fatah group led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused Hamas leaders of living in “luxurious hotels and villas” in Arab cities while the people of the Gaza Strip were left to live in poverty. Hamas’ plan was to give the impression that it had changed its priorities.
Apparently not only Israel, but also some allies fell for this deception. Retired General Yaakov Amidror, former national security adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and chairman of the National Security Council from 2011 to 2013, said Hamas had reportedly taken on “more responsibility.” “We foolishly began to believe this was true,” he said. “So we made a mistake. We will not make this mistake again and we will destroy Hamas slowly but surely.”