Hundreds are dead in what is the worst attack on Israeli soil since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
On October 6, thousands of Israelis woke up with a shudder to sirens blaring across several cities. The Palestinian group Hamas had launched around 5,000 rockets from Gaza along with a sensational land-sea-air attack into Israeli soil.
Hamas sent its fighters to infiltrate towns, kibbutz communities, and even an outdoor music festival. Panic-stricken Israelis hid in their homes with reports rife that Hamas fighters were carrying out terrorist attacks going door-to-door, shooting civilians or dragging them away.
The Hamas land assault was augmented by boats and motorised paragliders who breached Israeli soil early in the morning using guerilla tactics.
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The attacks have left hundreds dead in what is the worst attack on Israeli soil since the 1973 Yom Kippur War; this despite the combined efforts of Shin Bet and Mossad, the two famed Israeli security and intelligence services. The attacks and the deaths have dealt a major blow, especially to Mossad's credibility whose achievements in Israel and across the globe are legendary.
How Mossad Functions
With a $3 billion annual budget and 7,000-strong staff, Mossad is the second-largest espionage agency in the West after the CIA.
David "Dadi" Barnea, who succeeded Yossi Cohen as Mossad chief in June 2021, was selected through a highly secretive process known only to a select few in the Israeli prime minister's office, the agency, and the Civil Service Advisory Committee, which vets and approves even the Israeli prime minister's appointment.
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Mossad has several departments, but the details of its internal structure are mostly hidden. It not only has a network of informants and agents inside Palestinian militant groups, but also in hostile countries like Lebanon, Syria, and Iran. The intelligence agency's vast spy network provides them with intimate knowledge of militant leaders' movements, enabling them to execute precise assassinations as and when necessitated.
Departments:
- The Mossad's Collections Department is the largest division, responsible for espionage operations around the world.
- The Political Action and Liaison Department conducts political activities and works with friendly foreign intelligence services and nations with which Israel does not have formal diplomatic relations.
- The Special Operations Division, also known as Metsada, carries out highly sensitive assassinations, sabotage, paramilitary, and psychological warfare operations.
- The LAP (Lohamah Psichologit) Department is responsible for psychological warfare, propaganda, and deception operations.
- The Research Department produces intelligence, including daily situation reports, weekly summaries, and detailed monthly reports.
- The Technology Department develops advanced technologies to support Mossad operations.
How Mossad Failed
Israel and Mossad's impeccable success rate when it comes to thwarting external attacks has made the failure to anticipate the Hamas attack on Saturday all the more pressing.
Questions have been raised on how Hamas managed to stockpile rockets and missiles by the thousands so close to home without Israeli intelligence detecting it or why was Israel's ever-reliable Iron Dome missile defense system unable to intercept all of the incoming projectiles from Gaza.
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Despite the high-tech security measures along the Gaza-Israel border, including cameras, ground-motion sensors, and regular army patrols, the recent Hamas infiltration attack was successful. Videos emerged on social media showing a bulldozer tearing down a portion of the seemingly impregnable 'iron wall' that marked the Israel-Gaza border.
Hamas fighters were able to infiltrate through the fence, cutting holes in the wire, and arriving by sea on boats and paragliders.
The scale of the attack, the complexity with which it was carried out and the coordination and months of planning it must have required raises serious questions on how and why Israel's near-perfect intelligence agency failed to detect it.
Some have equated it to the 9/11 attacks in New York that sent reverberations not just through the CIA but the global intelligence network in general.