By Newspot Nigeria Editorial Board
The tragedy of October 7, 2023, remains one of the most consequential national failures in Israeli history. In a moment of staggering vulnerability, Hamas militants breached Israel’s border with astonishing ease—murdering over 1,200 people and abducting scores more. For a country built on the premise of “never again,” this was not just an attack—it was an unthinkable collapse.
Jonathan Foreman’s deeply researched account in Commentary Magazine lays out the scale of what Israelis now call a mechdal—a preventable disaster. But this mechdal was more than just a political failure. It was a failure of vision, vigilance, and response—one that recalls similar near-catastrophes from the Cold War.
🔥 Netanyahu in the Crosshairs: Failure of Leadership or Failure of Imagination?
Foreman’s article provides evidence that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ignored early intelligence warnings, misread Hamas’s intent, and maintained a dangerously outdated belief that Gaza had been pacified through economic co-optation. It was an illusion that cost Israel dearly.
But to view this solely as a Netanyahu debacle is to miss the forest for the trees.
🧠 Beyond Bibi: The Rot That Ran Through the System
From unarmed sentries to vacationing battalions on a holiday, Israel’s preparedness was undercut by decades of strategic drift. Military doctrine shifted toward cyber and surveillance while ground readiness suffered. Human intelligence was abandoned. Junior analysts were silenced. High-tech cameras and drones replaced the very people who could have seen the attack coming.
This wasn’t just political negligence—it was institutional amnesia.
🚨 Echoes from the Cold War: How Near Misses Shaped Doctrine
Then—and Failed to Now
To understand the stakes, look back to Able Archer 83, a NATO simulation that nearly triggered a Soviet nuclear launch. Soviet forces, fearing a disguised attack, loaded warheads, scrambled bombers, and put their nuclear briefcase in hand—until one U.S. intelligence officer decided not to escalate. His restraint saved millions.
Even earlier, Cold War veterans like Chief Petty Officer Al Yearger recounted flying radar picket flights from Newfoundland, navigating mechanical failure and ice storms while keeping vigil over potential threats from the Arctic. His experience—improvising fixes to keep radar systems alive—shows how heroism and human skill under pressure were the bedrock of early-warning defense.
Israel, in contrast, leaned too hard on automation and too little on readiness. There were no “Petrovs” or “Yeargers” at the gate. The soldiers at the breached Nahal Oz base didn’t even have machine guns unlocked. The Nova festival wasn’t on anyone’s radar.
🧊 From Ice-Storm Super Connies to Gaza’s Fence: The Constants of Security
Cold War defenders flew through ice storms and mechanical malfunctions with lives—and nations—on the line. They understood that vigilance wasn’t optional. As Yearger’s harrowing story reminds us, systems fail. Humans adapt—or fall.
On October 7, Israel’s systems failed. And its people hadn’t been trained, empowered, or equipped to adapt.
🕯️ Newspot Nigeria’s View: A Mechdal for the Ages—But Not One Without Lessons
This mechdal, like all major national collapses, demands both accountability and reform. Netanyahu must face his part in the failure—but the system that enabled it must be overhauled entirely. Let Israel’s reckoning go deeper than politics.
And for nations like Nigeria, where insurgencies rage and border vulnerabilities remain, this is not just a cautionary tale. It is a warning, a mirror, and a moment of truth.
✍️ This editorial draws from Jonathan Foreman’s “The Untold Story of How Israel Failed on October 7” (Commentary Magazine, May 2025), the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation’s “Able Archer 83” fact sheet, and “Early Warning and the Cold War” by Chief Petty Officer Al Yearger (USN, Ret), Air Mobility Command Museum.
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