Nothing seems to have changed in the IDF, with its leadership still deeply immersed in the pre-October 7 conceptzia – as is evident by a statement made by IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari on Motzei Shabbos which caused a storm of outrage among the Israeli public.
Speaking to the press on Motzei Shabbos from the scene of the massacre in Majdal Shams, Hagari was asked why the air defense system didn’t intercept the rocket that killed 12 children. He responded: “We didn’t know that Hezbollah planned to fire here. We had no such intelligence. No one thought that a murderous terrorist organization would fire at a soccer field where children and teens were playing – no one imagined such a thing.”
The puzzling statement, after nine months of Hezbollah firing on Israel’s northern communities, was broadcast live on all of Israel’s TV channels.
Many social media users expressed consternation at Hagari’s statements and compared it to the IDF’s lack of preparation to the October 7th attack in the south.
Journalist Yishay Shnerb wrote: “Perhaps we simply need to establish an ‘imaginary army’ whose task will be to imagine all the far-fetched scenarios that have never happened, such as terrorist organizations engaging in terrorist activities, uncontrolled borders through which weapons are smuggled, and the imaginary possibility that the enemy is actually not deterred.”
The right-wing Toras Lechimah organization responded: “In a little while, Daniel Hagari will chalilah say: ‘No one imagined that terror organizations would enter Kfar Saba and massacre women and children.’ Because with the progressive mental illness of the current blind and deaf senior IDF officers, that could happen, chalilah. We need to boot them out and replace them – now!”
Ynet reporter Yair Kraus wrote: “If 10 months after the October 7 massacre, the IDF spokesperson says ‘No one imagined such a thing,’ I can definitely understand the evacuees from the north who are worried that even after the war, there won’t be an army to protect them.”
One social media user posted a photo of children killed in the October 7 massacre with the quote: “No one imagined such a thing…”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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8 Responses
One p’shat in Hagari’s statement could mean, he didn’t think Hezbolla would attack another Arab group who wanted a civil war.
Tehillim 127.
When will they learn?
He probably meant that the Iron Dome and other defense systems are placed where they expect to need them. They don’t have enough to put them everywhere.
Trust YWN to get the names of the victims wrong. I was wondering why Druze children would have Hebrew names. Here are the correct names from The Times of Israel:
The victims were named as Alma Ayman Fakher Eldin, 11 Milad Muadad Alsha’ar, 10; Vinees Adham Alsafadi, 11; Iseel Nasha’at Ayoub, 12; Yazan Nayeif Abu Saleh, 12; Johnny Wadeea Ibrahim, 13; Ameer Rabeea Abu Saleh, 16; Naji Taher Alhalabi, 11; Fajer Laith Abu Saleh, 16; Hazem Akram Abu Saleh, 15; and Nathem Fakher Saeb, 16.
@Bklyntrucker I was thinking the same but they’ve targeted that town before. I think he was trying cover the fact that the IDF isn’t capable of defending them. Sooner or later we will have to switch away from our just defense strategy and realize that being on offense is the only way to defend. The entire iron dome was failed project because of cost and the enemy will always find a hole.
@provaxx The post in the article was a cynical juxtaposition of the statement by the IDF spokesman about the Druze tragedy now and the names of Jewish Israeli children killed on October 7 showing the lack of preparedness of the IDF unfortunately.
He already explained what he meant but damage control after that statement is too little and too late. The reason he used the wrong words is that he doesn’t know English fluently. Either they have someone else review what he is going to say before he goes public or get someone who really knows the language.
Provaxx, you clearly did not read the article carefully. It just said that someone posted Israeli kids killed on October 7th and added what the IDF spokesman just said as a caption, “No one imagined…” i.e. How can you make that same claim again, when you see that terrorists already brutally murdered kids?