KINSELLA: Israel’s PM faces near-impossible task of re-election

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If you had the impression this week that Benjamin Netanyahu was running for office, you’d be right – he is.

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But the Prime Minister of Israel wasn’t running where he was this week, which was at a podium in Washington, D.C., speaking to members of the U.S. Congress.

Bathing in the standing ovations he received – reportedly more than any foreign leader has ever received when addressing congresspeople – Netanyahu could be forgiven for wishing he was running for re-election in America, and not Israel.

Back in Israel, you see, he is really, really unpopular. Presently, he is facing three separate corruption prosecutions; he is met with protesters wherever he goes in Israel, including hundreds who have camped outside his residence for months; and he is deeply unloved by as many as 70% of Israelis who want him out.

They disapprove of his inability to get all the hostages home, they disapprove of how he is conducting the war against Hamas, they disapprove of him.

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But, mostly, they disapprove of something that is little-known in places like America but is very well-known in Israel. Namely, what Netanyahu and his government knew about Hamas’ savage attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 – and what, if anything, he did about it.

Because, on balance, it doesn’t look like he did much. It doesn’t look like he did anything meaningful to prevent the worst progrom in the 76-year history of the Jewish state – a vicious, sadistic, Satanic attack that left 1,200 men, women and children dead, over 200 taken hostage, and an untold number of women and girls subjected to sexual violence that is beyond comprehension.

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For that, Benjamin Netanyahu now faces a near-impossible task: re-election.

The damning facts are well-known in Israel – and, in some cases, are actually still to be found on the Internet. They can be seen in videos created by Hamas and their evil cabal, and uploaded to assorted platforms.

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For those who had been paying attention online, Oct. 7 really shouldn’t have been a surprise. For months, Hamas had been posting videos of its terrorist members openly preparing for an attack on Israel.

One Hamas video, released in late 2022, showed Hamas terrorist battalions being trained to take hostages and fly paragliders into Israel. Another video, just a few months later, showed Hamas training to breach the border with Israel, and destroying communications towers.

Other videos showed Hamas training exercises in a full-scale mock Israeli settlement in Gaza, South of Khan Younis. It looked like the real thing, right down to the signage and building design.

In another video – part of what Hamas called the “Strong Pillar” training exercise – uniformed terrorists stormed a counterfeit Israeli military base, which they had built with a life-sized model of a tank, complete with Israeli flag.

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The video showed Hamas jogging through cinderblock buildings, capturing Israeli prisoners. It was filmed near the town of Beit Hanoun, which is about a kilometre from the Israeli border wall.

There was other evidence of what was to come, not all of it online, and all of which Netanyahu’s government knew about. The New York Times would report that Israel’s military – months before Oct. 7, 2023 – even possessed detailed Hamas plans for an attack on Israeli civilians. The 40-page plan detailed rocket attacks, border vulnerabilities and how to destroy surveillance cameras on the barriers between Israel and Gaza.

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The plan identified the location of Israeli military forces and communications hubs. Later, it would be learned that Hamas knew who was responsible for security in individual communities, where they lived, and where arms were stored. They even knew who had a dog.

The Hamas plan – called The Jericho Wall by the IDF – circulated within the Israeli military but was dismissed as far-fetched.

“It is not yet possible to determine whether the plan has been fully accepted and how it will be manifested,” one IDF analyst wrote.

Not long after that, a veteran analyst within Unit 8200 – the IDF’s signal intelligence agency – reported Hamas was conducting intensive training exercises that were identical to what was described in the 40-page plan. The analyst’s concerns were dismissed by a colonel, who said “the scenario is imaginary.”

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The analyst pushed back: “It is a plan designed to start a war. It’s not just a raid on a village.”

She was ignored. No steps were taken to prevent an attack. In fairness to Netanyahu, no politicians were apparently briefed on that. Apparently.

But in elections – here, or in Israel, or in any democracy – claims that “we didn’t know” rarely work. The response, from voters, is always: “You should’ve known. We elected you to know, and to protect us. You didn’t.”

That is why Benjamin Netanyahu was in Washington, D.C., soaking up the applause and the standing ovations this week.

Because he isn’t going to be getting many standing ovations back home.

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