Finally, something normal, something that makes sense, to come out of Israel in the wake of the still- unexplained destruction of 1200 innocent Israeli men, women and children by an incursion of what is, to date, believed to have been an army of 2,000 Hamas terrorists last weekend. In the tweet above, we see enraged Israeli citizens, betrayed Israeli citizens, protesting what was done to them, and not only by Hamas terrorists. The image was taken outside the Defense Ministry. In the injury to the outrage category, earlier in the morning, a truck carrying concrete barriers of fortification, presumably to guard against the protestors, had appeared outside the ministry before, it is reported, driving off without placing the barriers. 

Maybe the government realized that fortifying the Defense Ministry after the Israeli border had been catastrophically overrrun is not a good look. 

Now, of course I know that it is Hamas terrorists -- again, 2,000 of them -- who pulled the triggers, shot the rockets, wielded the knives and truncheons that created the unspeakable carnage in southern Israel last weekend; but is it true that Hamas was the only guilty party?

The aggrieved protestors do not seem to believe this is the case. Ten thousand miles away, I do not believe that is the case, either. I can't help it. I have a sick feeling. There is something extremely wrong with the bloody rape of southern Israel -- a rampage that went forward unimpeded, and in a thorough and even unhurried fashion, through 15 towns and cities plus a music festival -- which now becomes the predicate for war, very possibly wider war. This sense of something wrong starts with the "intelligence failure" itself which has been widely promoted and accepted like an act of God, or, since I don't mean to be Bilbical in this metaphor, an act of Nature to explain away the massive and complex incursion of Hamas terrorists across Israel's border fortifications -- including multiple Israeli military bases. Then, following this initial "intelligence failure" and terrorist penetration, the ensuing Israeli military failure is, if anything, even more disturbing and impossible to understand. I refer to the failure of the Netanyahu government to scramble Israeli rescue forces, whether fast teams or even a squadron of F16s, to the towns and military bases under massive attack for hours. For six hours. Eight hours. Twelve hours.

I am reminded of the US failure to respond to the US consulate under attack at Benghazi.

To add to the surrealism of events, here is an account of the day from an Israeli general, General Dan Goldfus, a 46-year-old paratrooper commander who was on leave in Tel Aviv when the Hamas attacks began. While jogging that Saturday morning, he told the New York Times, he "saw  a video from the south, showing terrorists cruising through a city, entirely unimpeded." The report doesn't say the time, but Axios reports Netanyahu was informed of the attacks at 6:29 am, so it may have been in that same time-frame.

The report continues:

Without waiting for orders, the general said he ran home, changed into his uniform and headed south.

He picked up guns and two soldiers from his base in central Israel, and called friends and colleagues to find out what was happening.

This may not be the m.o. one expects from a sovereign nation's army, but we can let it pass.

Only a few picked up. Of the rest, “There was nobody really understanding the full picture,” General Goldfus said in an interview.

Is this really how the Israeli Army defends its country? Really? In any case, the Times has no questions, and even offers this explanation:

The speed, precision and scale of Hamas’s attack had thrown the Israeli military into disarray, and for many hours afterward civilians were left to fend for themselves. (Emphasis added.)

"Disarray" is an explanation lacking in details, is it not? But then there is this --

Using the few scraps of information he could glean, General Goldfus said he and the soldiers headed to a village north of Nahal Oz, and then gradually worked their way south.

It was around 10 a.m. All around him was carnage and atrocity.

It was around 10 a.m.-- still morning. The general and his buddies -- the Rover Boys, sounds like -- were able to travel by car to the war zone -- but not the Israeli Army. 

To be cont'd.