These are the signs of the times

It has a 51km walled border with Israel and 11km with Egypt. Inside that tight space live 2.3 million people. With some of the strictest security, the only way Hamas can attack Israel is by rocket.

It’s not so much a settlement as a boiling kitchen of grievance and racial hatred. The Israelis, who run things here and are quite rough with the Palestinians, have deployed a sophisticated air defence system, the Iron Dome, which shoots down rockets and other aerial threats.

Israel’s surveillance of Gaza is out of this world. They have drones in the sky most times and can see what’s going on.

Their electronic coverage of Gaza is also tight; they know and have the phone numbers of the residents of various buildings. As a matter of fact, when they decide to bomb a building, which they frequently might, they call or text civilians to clear out.

On this morning, Hamas launched an air, sea and ground offensive against Israel of unprecedented proportions and brutality.

Using hang gliders and para-gliders, fighters flew over the defensive wall and cleared Israeli security, allowing Hamas commandos to blow holes in the wall and widen the gaps with bulldozers.

The fighters then drove or rode motorbikes into Israel and, after taking hostages and spiriting them back to Gaza, slaughtered civilians. They killed them in their villages, entertainment events and on the roads. There is footage of scenes similar to War of the Worlds—cars abandoned on the roads after aliens snatch out the occupants to be slaughtered for fertiliser.

Not that there was any realistic chance of Hamas over-running Israel. Nuclear-armed, the Israelis have the mightiest military in the Middle East with 169,500 active duty soldiers and 465,000 reserves, 300,000 of whom the government has called up for the current conflict. There is always the risk of a repeat of past wars, where the ring of enemies around Israel gang up and attack. As I write, Hezbollah, in Lebanon, and Israel are exchanging fire.

So how did Hamas buffoon some of the best military and civilian intelligence to launch a surprise attack? The mastermind of the attack is Mohammed Deif, the commander of Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades, a very secretive and dangerous man. I read that, save for one in his youth, no photo of his exists; in broadcasts they use a shadow.

Mr Deif has been working on this attack for two years. According to reporting, Hamas convinced Israel—and me—that it was more concerned with governing than killing Jews. It is the government in Gaza, after all. Israel has allowed Gazans to cross over and work in Israel, where the pay is 10 times better than in the walled territory. They thought Hamas would not risk the livelihoods of its people by attacking. Ha!

Hamas attacked the Gaza operation headquarters of the Israeli army, jammed its communications as well as other bases and killed troops. Its fighters were well trained and prepared. Apparently, they trained in full view of the Israelis, down to building mock-up settlements and using them for rehearsals. They also practised using drones to attack the security wall. Because the teams were small, the Israelis thought they were just putting on a show, probably to silence the critics who thought they had gone soft since coming to power.

Israel has a fearsome reputation for infiltration of Mideast militants. Their electronic gadgetry is second to none and they are a major exporter of surveillance equipment and technology. But Hamas adapted; they resorted to face-to-face meetings and couriers and kept to the complex maze of tunnels they dug under Gaza. When it looked all quiet on the southern front, Mr Deif was plotting underground, positioning his forces and materiel.

The attack on Israel is one in a series of events which, taken together, represent the beginning of a crack in post-world war order. The internal challenge against democracy in the US; weakening of the European Union, mainly by the exit of Britain (Brexit); the war the West is supporting against Russia in Ukraine; the rise of China and its making of common cause against the West with Russia; the emergence of a coalition of new powers in the Middle East, Asia, South America and Africa under Brics trying to break free from US influence; the declining fortunes of France in Africa through a series of coups against its puppets.... These are the signs of the times.

Hamas had to have the strong support of countries such as Iran, which, I imagine, would find it a lot easier to extend support for risky military campaigns given their new-found importance as armourers to Russia.

How will the world look like in 20 years? Certainly not the same. Hamas launching a full-scale assault on the Israeli homeland and killing 1,200 people in the course of one morning is proof of it.

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