Dangerous Delusions

The Misconceptions That Led to the Catastrophe of October 7

On Saturday, October 7, 2023, Israeli sovereignty evaporated for nearly two harrowing days. This lapse did not result merely from flawed intelligence or a specific operational mishap; rather, it marked the collapse of the comprehensive security and political worldview that has prevailed in Israel since Benjamin Netanyahu’s return to the Prime Minister’s Office in 2009. The collapse of this worldview with all its constituent preconceptions shattered the axiom that had taken hold in Israel over recent decades: namely, that the right wing is strong on security.

When the war is over and when those abducted return home, Israel will have to formulate a new approach for defending its citizens. In anticipation of this, we should already start to probe the mistakes of the past and sober up from the dangerous delusions that led all of us astray.

This is not an easy task. The battle over the narrative is already raging; those responsible for the fiasco and their associates are making every effort to keep throwing sand in our eyes. Identifying the misconceptions that underlay the worldview that collapsed on October 7 is the essential first step in our recovery from the events of that traumatic day.

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