Look closely at what was published in the media this week and tell me: How is it possible we haven’t learned anything? How are we driving down the same blind path straight toward the next disaster? The female lookouts—those soldiers who know every grain of sand and every suspicious movement in their sector—sit in front of their screens and plead: “We feel like it’s October 6th all over again.”
1+They spot terrorists approaching the “yellow line,” see armed men, identify suspicious activity on the ground, and see explosive devices being planted. They sound alerts, report, and request permission to fire—but according to them, everything gets stuck higher up. Another approval, another level, more bureaucracy. And meanwhile, they and the soldiers in the field are dealing with—or more accurately, ignoring—the threat. And where is the senior command? Maybe instead of thinking that rank also grants a monopoly on reality, you should get out into the field? Go down to the positions? Sit next to the lookouts during a shift? Listen to the soldiers who are hundreds of meters from the enemy and see what they see?
1+How is it that after October 7th, a lookout asks, “If I know they won’t do anything with my alert, what am I scanning for?” Why should a female soldier feel she’s risking punishment just so someone higher up will listen to her warning? Hamas is testing the boundaries. Looking for hesitation, checking responses, trying to identify where they can get another meter closer. It’s insane to me that after what we’ve been through, we’re back to the October 6th mindset. Who’s going to tell the senior command we don’t have that privilege? Who’s going to wake up our elected officials? If I know and you know, there’s no doubt everyone up there knows too. What are we? Sitting ducks? What is this ugly complacency? Last time, the writing was on the wall, and the price was unbearable. Elections are right around the corner. We see you. Hamas is also waiting for us around the corner—who are you to give them the other cheek, too?