When you are there, the feeling is indescribable. The remnants of a violent invasion on October 7 are more than horrible. It left a deep scar on the only Jewish nation.
Then a just-world fallacy against one nation when a deep scar is not enough. Victims and survivors became unwilling living museums to remind the world. Yet, this turn of events triggered something more.
A timing that just couldn’t be right. A radical Islamic group’s attempted genocide became an “invasion to massacre” event. A government’s failure became successful propaganda.
Announcing The Invasion
Broadcasting to launch around 5,000 rockets at Israel from Hamas commander Mohammad Deif. Siren sounds overwhelmed the air as people took cover in the nearest bomb shelter. Unknowingly, a simulated attack accompanied the launch. Hamas’s suicide mission to infiltrate the south borders.
The rockets overwhelmed the sophisticated Iron Dome, and lax border patrol broke Israel’s border. The terrorist group successfully carried out their mission. A mission of genocide that is viewed as an invasion to massacre.
The first wave of attack was coordinated with the rockets launched. The following two waves were both militant and armed Gazan civilians did the most damage. An aftermath that can still be seen today.
No Short Story of A Survivor
Victims who survived the aftermath can recall it as if it were yesterday. The mission was to make more victims as they could, which included non-Israelis, Filipinos, and Holocaust survivors. Among them are four Filipinos who died: one at the Nova Music Festival and three OFWs as caregivers at the Kibbutz (Barangay) area.
Arie Itzik, who is 73-year-old guided us inside his Kibbutz Nir Oz community. He served the community for more than four decades as a volunteer and community nurse. He tells his survival story and the indescribable scenes of that day.
Instead of fighting, he went back to his home. Left the front door open and hid in a pile of furniture. He held a television over his head as part of the furniture.
When it was completely safe to come out, he went to check his village. The scenes in Kibbutz Nir Oz are unbearable. Victims story after story just piled up.
Our guide points out one of the bomb shelters. These bomb shelters are made with unlockable doors for easy access. A father shielded himself between a door and his family inside the bomb shelter. Hamas tried to open the shelter. Then they started to shoot through the doors out of frustration; no one survived.
Homes in Kibbutz Nir Oz were burned down. Itzik showed us one home turned to coal. He said that the home’s fuel tank hose was torching itself. Even after they turned off the fuel gauge, the house continued to burn.
Everything in Kibbutz, the Nova Music Festival events ground, and the cross-border area tells an unbearable personal story.
These stories are forgotten when the Israel Defense Force (IDF) tries to make up for the damages. Their rescue attempts and elimination of radical terrorists are a critic’s playground. Everything that failed that day, up to today, is a cause for victim-blaming a nation. Similar to Chinese nations criticizing the Philippines for grabbing sovereign land.
Failures of Countermeasures
This nation’s loss may have been prevented if signs of failure were addressed early on. Israeli politics ignored the signs of warning. An analyst from the Institute of National Security Studies (INSS) tells us the obvious. Two nations warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about October 7. The Prime Minister didn’t take into account the warnings delivered by Chief Abbas Kamel of Egyptian Intelligence and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Border surveillance filed a 40-page report on the battle plan of Hamas called the “Jericho Wall.” Tactical intelligence analysts included unusual activities within Gaza, which included tunnel drilling. The Intifada and Hamas routine attacks are both a distraction and a test of the Israeli borders.
Military authorities ignored these reports, and it seems unrealistic. Senior Research Danny Citrinowicz of the INSS reveals more failures. The over-reliance on technology led to a lax military presence, strategic military miscalculations, judicial debate on military readiness, and more caused the success of Hamas’ operation.
Further down in history, a Jordanian citizen founded Hamas. Sheikh Ahmed Yassin founded Hamas right after his release from jail and travelled to the Gaza Strip in 1987. Disguised as a political movement to rule Gaza. IDF left Gaza to be independent, but two years later Hamas started to test Israeli borders.
The Crisis Theory
Egypt saw the extreme radical insurgency in 2014, so they finally set solid boundaries. Egypt built a fortified wall between them and Gaza. While these signs seem to have nothing to do with October 7, it all seems connected. Hamas planned it well with thousands of human sacrifices.
What looks like perfect timing, but modern theorists see it as inevitable. A Strauss-Howe theory suggests that it is part of the “Fourth Turning” or the Crisis. The global rise of antisemitism after October 7 is a planned international propaganda of the Palestinian movement.
What comes after the Crisis is the High or “First Turning.” A rise to stronger institutions, fall of corruption, and the Era of growth can be seen today.
The United Nations (UN) softly admits its mistakes and deliberates for peace. The UN officials condemned Russia’s war as an invasion and conflict with peace. This moved the UN deliberation to what’s going on in Israel. This includes using the October 7 incident, which is heart-burdening evidence. Victims of this incident will either become spectacle evidence or a scapegoat. The UN talks are already showing the uncertain future of Israel. Alongside the incoming Israeli election and citizens losing faith in their Prime Minister. These are unavoidable consequences of delivering the facts and truth.