This was a tough one to write. According to multiple sources, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) knew in advance about the terrorist group Hamas's plan to enter Israel and kidnap Israeli soldiers and civilians.

The Jerusalem Post reported late Monday that a newly surfaced document reveals IDF intelligence systems had detailed knowledge of the Hamas plan to launch an attack inside the Jewish state and kidnap 250 people, weeks before the October 7 massacre occurred.

The document, which was compiled in the Gaza Division, outlined Hamas's intentions and was known to top intelligence officials, according to a report by Kan News. 

The document, titled "Detailed End-to-End Raid Training," was distributed on September 19, 2023, and described in detail the series of exercises conducted by Hamas's elite units. 

These exercises included raiding military posts and kibbutzim (collective communities in Israel), kidnapping soldiers and civilians, and maintaining the hostages once they were in the Gaza Strip. 

These exercises included raiding military posts and kibbutzim (collective communities in Israel), kidnapping soldiers and civilians, and maintaining the hostages once they were in the Gaza Strip.

According to The Post, the report by Kan News reads, in part: 

Security sources told Kan News that the document was known to the intelligence leadership, at the very least in the Gaza Division. Israeli intelligence officials who monitored the exercise detailed in the document the next steps [of Hamas] after breaching into Israel and taking over the posts, determining that the instruction is to hand over the captured soldiers to the company commanders. The expected number of hostages, it states, is between 200 and 250 people.

Yet warning signs were not acted upon, despite the IDF having precise information about Hamas's intentions. 

While I get the "prevailing perceptions" thing — and it's far from my wheelhouse to second-guess Israeli Defense Forces — but given Hamas's terrorist past and its oft-stated objective of destroying Israel and its citizenry, I'm baffled by the notion that any prevailing perception that didn't place the terrorist group's violent history and stated objectives above all other perceptions at the top of the list, were suspect at best.

Thus, possible negligence by the security establishment, including senior officials, appears likely.

Further:

This information, combined with a new and sophisticated security barrier completed two years before the attack, was believed to have made such an assault improbable. However, the barrier failed during the Hamas attack, highlighting a significant intelligence and security oversight. 

The general staff investigation team is expected to present initial findings from this failure to the Chief of Staff in the coming weeks, as the country seeks to understand how such a lapse in security could occur despite having detailed advance knowledge of the enemy's plans.

During the horrific October 7 attack, more than 1,200 Israelis, including women, children, and even infants — along with foreign nationals — were murdered, raped, or tortured to death. 120 hostages still remain in Hamas captivity — dead or alive.

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Meanwhile, shameless Joe Biden and equally anti-Israel Secretary of State Antony Blinken continue to try to dictate to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu how to conduct the ongoing war against terrorists who want nothing more than Israel gone and Israelis dead.