- Published
As the sky began to lighten over Israel's border with Gaza on Wednesday, the people of Kfar Aza moved silently towards the armoury at the centre of the kibbutz.
asserted
people → publish → kibbutz
It was there, shortly after 07:00 on 7 October 2023, that Hamas-led attackers killed half the community's 14-member civil defence squad.
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attackers → lead → squad
They were among 64 killed and 19 kidnapped from the community that day.
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They → kill → community
But three years on, there are questions about who else should pay the price for Israel's security failure.
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who → be → failure
"I need my country to take responsibility," said Inbar Goldstein, whose brother and niece were killed, and four other relatives kidnapped from Kfar Aza.
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brother → need → Aza
The 7 October attack was the deadliest Israel had suffered since its creation in 1948.
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Israel → suffer → 1948
About 1,200 people were killed across southern Israel by gunmen who broke through the border fence and attacked communities there.
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who → kill → communities
Another 251 people were taken back to Gaza as hostages.
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people → take → hostages
Three years on from Israel's biggest security failure, there is still no independent state inquiry into how it was allowed to happen.
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it → be → failure
And the man in charge at the time of that failure - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - is running for election again, with the same campaign promise: to be stronger and tougher than anyone else in protecting Israel from its enemies.
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man → run → enemies
"Nobody investigated the roots [of the attack].
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Nobody → investigate → attack
It didn't start or end on October 7th - it's a long process of abandonment," Goldstein said.
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Goldstein → start → abandonment
Aside from Hamas's responsibility for the attack itself, there are growing questions in Israel around what caused the country's intelligence failure, what information was passed to military and political leaders in the run-up to the attacks, and what Netanyahu himself knew.
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Netanyahu → be → what
For months beforehand, young female soldiers posted at bases along the Gaza border to watch for suspicious activity had warned their superiors about possible preparations for an attack.
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soldiers → post → attack
She was killed with 14 other members of her unit when gunmen overran their base at Nahal Oz, just next to Kfar Aza.
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gunmen → kill → Aza
"There are so many questions," her uncle Elad Levy told me.
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uncle → be → me
"Were the Egyptians warning the prime minister?
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Egyptians → warn → minister
Were there no other warnings Netanyahu ignored?
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Netanyahu → ignore → ?
We need to find out what happened – not just on the day, but the year before, and five years before that."
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what → need → that
"The truth should be clear," he continued.
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he → continue → ?
"If we don't inquire into this, it will happen again and again."
Over the past three years, there have been mounting reports of warnings being given to Netanyahu - by his own security chief, as well as by regional neighbours – which he denies.
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he → inquire → which
Last month, Israel's Haaretz newspaper published extracts from a new book, alleging that the leader of the United Arab Emirates had called Netanyahu 10 days before the attack to warn of Hamas plans for a major operation.
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leader → publish → operation
Netanyahu's office has dismissed the report as "an absolute lie" and has said he will sue the newspaper.
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he → dismiss → newspaper
Amir Ohana, a member of Netanyahu's Likud party, said in a social media video last month that it was "preposterous and absurd" to suggest that Netanyahu could have known about the attack when the former Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, had only told a handful of people.
uncertain
leader → say → people
Israel's prime minister, he said, had since reshaped the Middle East and did not give up, "even when voices inside and outside Israel called on him to stop".
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voices → say → him
Netanyahu has blamed his own security chiefs for the failures that led to the 7 October attacks, accusing them of deliberately choosing not to wake him in the hours beforehand, for fear that he would order a massive deployment of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and escalate the situation.
"God forbid we wake up the prime minister and he says, 'Wake up the entire IDF immediately, scramble the air force!'" he told Israel's right-wing Channel 14 television network.
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he → blame → network
"What would have happened if they had woken me?
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they → happen → me
This would not have happened," he said, suggesting that his response would have better protected Israel from the attacks.
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response → happen → attacks
Yaacov Katz, a journalist and author of several books on Israel's defence, has written about the growing concerns over Hamas activity that emerged in the hours leading up to the assault.
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that → write → assault
In his book, While Israel Slept, he describes calls between senior military figures and intelligence chiefs in the early hours of the morning, the sudden recall of commanders from leave, and the dispatch of an elite intelligence unit to the border.
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he → sleep → border
He told me their expectation was, at worst, a small, limited incursion by Hamas fighters.
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expectation → tell → fighters
"So why would [Netanyahu] order a massive pre-emptive strike by the IDF, if every security chief is telling him this is not what this is going to be?
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this → order → what
Waking him would not have made a difference.
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Waking → wake → difference
But he said Netanyahu faced other questions about his failure to spot what was happening.
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what → say → failure
"You were the prime minister, you set the policy," he said.
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he → set → policy
"You created a doctrine and a policy of containment that trickled down to the last soldier manning the watchtower on the border with Gaza: contain Hamas, separate the Palestinians, and keep Hamas in power to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.
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that → create → state
For years, Netanyahu oversaw a policy of containing - not confronting - Hamas in Gaza, during which Israeli governments allowed Qatar to provide hundreds of millions of dollars of aid for Gaza.
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Qatar → oversee → Gaza
A month after the 7 October attacks, he told a German newspaper that claims he wanted to strengthen Hamas were "an absolute lie".
uncertain
he → tell → Hamas
"On the contrary we wanted to continue to weaken Hamas as much as we could," he told Die Welt.
uncertain
he → want → Welt
"But the money was meant to avoid a civilian catastrophe - that is the only reason.
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that → mean → catastrophe
…and 29 more, not listed.
The Aporia
