View: Attack on Israel is calculated and ruthless — and that’s Hamas
Hamas’s massive attack on Israel is that it was a surprise. The operation was of unprecedented scale, involving thousands of personnel and pieces of equipment, from hang gliders to bulldozers and rockets. Such an effort demands weeks if not months of preparation, and all of it took place under the nose of an Israeli intelligence service that has a deserved reputation as one of the most effective in the world.
How that happened is cause for deep embarrassment in Israel’s security community and will prompt a painful internal investigation.
Israel lost control of military outposts, armored vehicles and settlements, and the conflict is far from over. Dozens of Israeli citizens were killed, others were taken hostage and hundreds were injured.
Yet Saturday’s assault was also an important reminder concerning Hamas. It’s a US-designated terrorist group but no band of hotheads.
It is a well-resourced organization with a paramilitary armed force that is as calculating as it is ruthless. That’s what kept it in control of Gaza since 2007 despite being under constant threat from Israel, as well as from still more radical Salafist and other Islamist groups within Gaza.
Only Hamas knows the details of its strategy for Saturday’s attack, but the potential fallout is plain to see. A war in Gaza threatens at a stroke to upend the direction of travel in the Middle East.
