Name: Hamas terrorists went low-tech to avoid Israel's high powered intelligence agencies, reports show
Brand: foxbaltimore.com
SKU: foxbaltimore-com-64
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Hamas terrorists went low-tech to avoid Israel's high powered intelligence agencies, reports show

preview

19e4e79b907a29f0ec8e5addca6683fd6993f415eeb57da985367366a43a18b853579ce06137dcddby Christopher White | The National DeskTue, October 10th 2023, 12:38 PM UTC3VIEW ALL PHOTOSRockets are fired towards Israel from the Gaza Strip on Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)HUNT VALLEY, Md. (TND) -- This weekend's carnage in Israel is raising questions about why and how the vaunted Israeli intelligence community missed a growing threat in Gaza at their southern border. New reports are beginning to piece together parts of the puzzle, and one of those pieces suggests Hamas leaders avoided all types of communications technology in the planning phase. Signs of an impending attack were there, according to reports. Jerusalem, for example, ignored repeated warnings that the Gaza-based terror group --Hamas-- was planning “something big” near Israel's border, one Egyptian intelligence official told the Associated Press. Israel was distracted by skirmishes happening further north around the West Bank settlements, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to divulge such sensitive information. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office denied the report in a statement Monday, two days after the initial attack, which has so far resulted in the deaths of 700 people inside Israel. Another 2,000 injuries have been reported. Netanyahu has declared war on the organization, promising massive retaliation. “No early message came from Egypt and the prime minister did not speak or meet with the intelligence chief since the establishment of the government — not indirectly or directly," the statement read, calling the reports fake news. While the attacks, which entailed the use of hand gliders, motorcycles and even bulldozers, surprised the Israeli government and Western intelligence agencies, they don't often track Hamas leaders as closely as the Egyptian government, the New York Times reported yesterday. Israel maintained a good grasp of networks of Hamas supporters inside the Gaza Strip until 2005, when it withdrew troops and settlers amid international pressure to pull back from the territory. Even so, Israel maintained an edge in collecting information, using a vast array of technological and human intelligence.Similar surveillance tools are being used in the West Bank to monitor Palestinians, past reports show. Israel began integrating facial recognition with a network of cameras and smartphones throughout the territory, The Washington Post reported in 2021, citing descriptions of the program by Israeli soldiers. The initiative is part of a smartphone technology called Blue Wolf, which captures pictures of Palestinian faces and matches them to Israeli databases. A soldier is alerted through the app when they have to determine whether to detain a person. Terrorists in the Gaza Strip discovered ways to evade those types of technologies, putting Israel at a distinct disadvantage, according to Amir Avivi, a retired Israeli general. “They’ve gone back to the Stone Age,” he told the Times of Israel, referring to those who had planned the assault. They weren’t using phones or computers and were conducting sensitive business in rooms that are guarded from technological espionage, said Avivi, who is now the president and founder of Israel Defense and Security Forum.Another potential factor was Hamas deliberately led Israel into believing they had no intention of attacking, Avivi noted. Israeli officials, in an attempt to maintain relative calm inside the Gaza Strip, allowed nearly 20,000 Palestinian laborers to work in Israel, giving them a chance to earn upward of 10 times the amount of money they would inside Gaza. Israel's security officials, through the program, believed the Hamas saw itself as interested more in governing rather than as a weapon of destruction. The truth is that Israel's elimination was their highest priority, according to Avivi. In addition to acting as an anti-Israeli force inside Gaza, it also provides some services, such as trash collection, among other things. While Israel was led to believe they were placating an impoverished community, Hama's fighters were being trained of the invasion, sometimes under the watchful eye of Israeli officials, Reuters reported, citing a source close to Hamas. "Hamas used an unprecedented intelligence tactic to mislead," giving Israel the belief, the source said.Even though Netanyahu's government denies ignoring warnings, Israel does admit it was caught with its defenses down. "This is our 9/11," Major Nir Dinar, spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces, told Reuters, referring to the September 11, 2001, terror attacks against the United States, which also was the result of an intelligence failure "They got us."Loading ...

19e4e79b907a29f0ec8e5addca6683fd6993f415eeb57da985367366a43a18b853579ce06137dcddby Christopher White | The National DeskTue, October 10th 2023, 12:38 PM UTC3VIEW ALL PHOTOSRockets are fired towards Israel from the Gaza Strip on Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)HUNT VALLEY, Md. (TND) -- This weekend's carnage in Israel is raising questions about why and how the vaunted Israeli intelligence community missed a growing threat in Gaza at their southern border. New reports are beginning to piece together parts of the puzzle, and one of those pieces suggests Hamas leaders avoided all...

Hamas terrorists went low-tech to avoid Israel's high powered intelligence agencies, reports show

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS