I was interviewed for Lewis Brackpool's podcast, providing my perspective on life in Israel post-Oct. 7th, on holding complex views, and I shared new information about Oct. 7th.
Itzik Danino, Mayor of the city of Ofakim. Video originally posted on January 16. Time and place of speech are unknown to me.
English transcript:
Terrorists in Okafim. Squads of terrorists in Ofakim. Police...all the police of Ofakim are at the terrible nature party in Re'im. There is no army, no security forces. I make a call to the Foreign Minister, who is in the Security Cabinet, to Eli Cohen. Then he tells me, “I'm handling it in front of the National Security Council.”
I understand from this answer that this is not the solution that I'm looking for. This is not the response that we're looking for.
So then I make a call to the Security Minister, to Yoav Galant, also a little before 7 in the morning. Then I say to him...I'd already regained my composure, and I also understood what I was seeking from him. Then I say to him, “Minister, in these very moments there are squads of terrorists in the city of Ofakim, passing from house to house, and murdering my residents. If there won't be a helicopter here within a half hour, they will slaughter the city.”
Then you hear a wireless silence of twenty, thirty seconds, which seems like forever. You're waiting for an answer, and then he says to you, “I'm handling it.”
In those moments I feel that I succeeded to make a significant move to rescue my residents. This is a moment of lifting of the spirit during such a difficult and painful event.
I wait a half hour, and then I call him again, and I say to him, “Minister, I don't hear helicopters. I don't hear the rescue force.”
Security experts are blaming Israel’s government for Saturday’s invasion in which Muslim forces from Gaza massacred over 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped at least one hundred hostages. by Yudi Sherman
So far no investigations have been launched into how the invaders were able to cross Israel’s heavily fortified border unimpeded, nor why it took Israel’s highly trained security forces over six hours to respond to calls for help.
Since 2005, when Israel expelled all Jewish residents from Gaza and ceded the territory to Muslims, Israel has been building sophisticated defense systems along the border. Foreseeing a possible above-ground invasion, Israel spent $220 million to develop an advanced security system “with no margin of error.” This includes barbed wire fences and a 23-foot high wall. Motion sensors are embedded in the ground along the electronic fences, which are accompanied by watchtowers armed with remote-control machine guns. The border is also patrolled by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, and Humvees operated by highly trained troops. Hundreds of night-vision cameras placed along the border constantly transmit to command centers which are operational 24/7.
Also deployed along the Gaza border is at least one semi-autonomous robotic vehicle called the Jaguar, equipped with dozens of cameras, sensors, transmitters and a 7.62mm MAG machine gun. The Jaguar sports a remote-controlled PA system and can self-destruct if captured by the enemy.
To stave off underground invasions, a 40-mile-long underground “smart fence” equipped with hundreds of AI-powered cameras, radar, and other sensors. The fence can detect infiltration by sea and is connected to a remote-controlled weapons system. One hundred and forty thousand tons of steel and concrete were reportedly used to build the barrier.
Israel’s Gazan border security also includes Sky Dew, a giant airborne balloon designed to help the Israel Air Force detect threats such as missiles and aircraft.
Video footage from Saturday’s invasion shows Muslim forces using a single bulldozer to dismantle a barbed wire fence. Media operatives have tried to claim that the invaders were able to cross the border after first dropping bombs on observation towers, somehow evading detection by Sky Dew, UAVs, electronic sensors and patrols. There is also no explanation for how the loss of transmission escaped notice by the military and intelligence units in the command centers.
Those units conduct regular drills and maneuvers. According to one military commander who was stationed at the Gaza border, one of those drills is a daily “dawn alert” during which both the night and day shifts inspect the border’s defenses. The Muslim forces, who invaded during the dawn hours, would have stumbled into a massive surveillance exercise by hypervigilant troops.
“In the 40 or more years that I’ve been following Israel one way or another, I’ve never seen this happen,” commented Trump-appointed former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman. “I’ve never seen the border breached in this manner. Usually, even one person from Gaza gets close to the border, they’re intercepted and neutralized long before they can do anything. This is just something I’ve never seen before. It’s of course a large intelligence failure.”
Israeli officials have also not addressed how hours after the attack began and Israel’s forces had been alerted, the invaders were able to return the way they came, taking hostages on dirt bikes back to Gaza.
“It is almost inconceivable how they missed this,” said CIA counterterrorism veteran Marc Polymeropoulos.
Security experts are also baffled as to how Israel’s intelligence network, which includes the feared Mossad and the country’s domestic intelligence agency, the Shin Bet, could have been ignorant of the operation.
“I’m truly astonished for something of this magnitude to go down and for the Israelis to have no clue that this is about to happen. I’m just speechless,” said Senior Fellow Colin Clarke at the global security research tank Soufan Center. “They have had sources inside these Palestinian groups for years.”
“Israel has exquisite, world-class intelligence collection and analysis capabilities and would have a far better picture of what’s going on in its own backyard. This one falls squarely on the Israelis,” he added.
Former Kerem Shalom Battalion Commander Yoram Erez wrote: "Something here doesn't add up to me!!! This is a mystery that I can't find an answer to since yesterday?
"I happen to know how things work in Gaza and on the border. I was the commander of the Kerem Shalom sector (Rafiah), I was in charge of Kissuf sector, I know the perimeter fence very well, I know how the army works there. I was in the Shatti refugee camp in Gaza, I was in charge of the Jibaliya refugee camp, I would make ambushes on the fence and deep in the area. I met Gazans, ate and breathed Gaza.
"The obstacle is built so that even a fox cannot pass it:
"Alerts are set according to 3 levels of pressure. It must alert when it is cut. There are, 24/7, forces that are responsible for arriving within a few minutes, if not seconds, to the point where there is an alert in the fence.
"Every day they do at least one penetration drill. Each subdivision has a standby squad whose role is to increase the force in an emergency situation. Observations scattered along the border cover every inch of it.
"The female observers are champions at identification. They don't miss. They detect movement even before it even approaches the obstacle - day and night. At problematic points (dead areas) they place a tank with observation and detection capabilities, and a terrifying firepower. In some cases snipers are deployed in the field.
"Every day before dawn there is a ‘dawn alert’ procedure. At this hour all the forces are awake (in this case also the hour when hundreds of terrorists entered Israel). The night shift alternates with the day shift. The commander of each force inspects the axis to make sure there were no infiltrations during the night.
"Trackers that move on the axis know how to recognize traces. They know who crossed the fence, how much and even when.
"Each scenario has a clear procedure. For example, a procedure for infiltrating terrorists, a procedure for taking hostages. Everything is written in blood and has been proving itself for years.
"There are several other layers of security that this is not the place to talk about. In short, we are talking about an obstacle that proves itself for years and years.
"So how the hell does a Palestinian tractor move towards the fence without anyone reacting to it?
"How did the tractor manage to sabotage the fence for a long hour and open access to Israel without anyone reacting to it?
"How did hundreds of terrorists and civilians cross the barrier without anyone on our side lifting a finger?
"How did terrorists arrive on foot and in vehicles, armed from head to toe, to dozens of Israeli settlements, without any reaction from our side?
"How did hundreds of terrorists stay in Israeli territory for long hours, shoot hundreds of Israelis, loot property, without there being even a single reaction on our side?
"How did it happen that hundreds of terrorists kidnapped dozens of Israelis, woke women, children, babies, old people from their beds, surprised soldiers, officers when they were not ready, and kidnapped them to Gaza, without anyone stopping them?
"How is it that one bullet was not fired?
"How did all this happen under our noses?
"Where did an entire division go?
"Where did 3 brigades go?
"Who swallowed 9 battalions?
"What happened to 36 companies?
"Where did an entire regular infantry brigade go that usually outnumbers the elite?
"Where were all the reserve battalions that augment the regular army?
Efrat,
Here is the song of your Substack!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM4-jzLpqtA
I know I love this song!! here's a better version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m2m_9Uijso
Itzik Danino, Mayor of the city of Ofakim. Video originally posted on January 16. Time and place of speech are unknown to me.
English transcript:
Terrorists in Okafim. Squads of terrorists in Ofakim. Police...all the police of Ofakim are at the terrible nature party in Re'im. There is no army, no security forces. I make a call to the Foreign Minister, who is in the Security Cabinet, to Eli Cohen. Then he tells me, “I'm handling it in front of the National Security Council.”
I understand from this answer that this is not the solution that I'm looking for. This is not the response that we're looking for.
So then I make a call to the Security Minister, to Yoav Galant, also a little before 7 in the morning. Then I say to him...I'd already regained my composure, and I also understood what I was seeking from him. Then I say to him, “Minister, in these very moments there are squads of terrorists in the city of Ofakim, passing from house to house, and murdering my residents. If there won't be a helicopter here within a half hour, they will slaughter the city.”
Then you hear a wireless silence of twenty, thirty seconds, which seems like forever. You're waiting for an answer, and then he says to you, “I'm handling it.”
In those moments I feel that I succeeded to make a significant move to rescue my residents. This is a moment of lifting of the spirit during such a difficult and painful event.
I wait a half hour, and then I call him again, and I say to him, “Minister, I don't hear helicopters. I don't hear the rescue force.”
So he says to me, “I'm handling it.”
The first soldier who reached Ofakim was at 2 in the afternoon. https://rumble.com/v4oewz0-mayor-of-ofakim-tells-shocked-audience-about-betrayal-on-oct-7.html
Jonathan Pollard: Helicopter Pilots Were Given Stand Down Order 1:32 min
https://rumble.com/v3svwei-jonathan-pollard-helicopter-pilots-were-given-stand-down-order.html
Thanks. Very interesting.....and very disturbing. The Israeli people need to be informed of all this.
Roger - You have to read this article :
Security experts blame Israel government for attack: ‘They had sources inside’ by Yudi Sherman
https://frontline.news/post/security-experts-blame-israel-government-for-attack-they-had-sources-inside
A lot of questions here:
Security experts are blaming Israel’s government for Saturday’s invasion in which Muslim forces from Gaza massacred over 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped at least one hundred hostages. by Yudi Sherman
So far no investigations have been launched into how the invaders were able to cross Israel’s heavily fortified border unimpeded, nor why it took Israel’s highly trained security forces over six hours to respond to calls for help.
Since 2005, when Israel expelled all Jewish residents from Gaza and ceded the territory to Muslims, Israel has been building sophisticated defense systems along the border. Foreseeing a possible above-ground invasion, Israel spent $220 million to develop an advanced security system “with no margin of error.” This includes barbed wire fences and a 23-foot high wall. Motion sensors are embedded in the ground along the electronic fences, which are accompanied by watchtowers armed with remote-control machine guns. The border is also patrolled by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, and Humvees operated by highly trained troops. Hundreds of night-vision cameras placed along the border constantly transmit to command centers which are operational 24/7.
Also deployed along the Gaza border is at least one semi-autonomous robotic vehicle called the Jaguar, equipped with dozens of cameras, sensors, transmitters and a 7.62mm MAG machine gun. The Jaguar sports a remote-controlled PA system and can self-destruct if captured by the enemy.
To stave off underground invasions, a 40-mile-long underground “smart fence” equipped with hundreds of AI-powered cameras, radar, and other sensors. The fence can detect infiltration by sea and is connected to a remote-controlled weapons system. One hundred and forty thousand tons of steel and concrete were reportedly used to build the barrier.
Israel’s Gazan border security also includes Sky Dew, a giant airborne balloon designed to help the Israel Air Force detect threats such as missiles and aircraft.
Video footage from Saturday’s invasion shows Muslim forces using a single bulldozer to dismantle a barbed wire fence. Media operatives have tried to claim that the invaders were able to cross the border after first dropping bombs on observation towers, somehow evading detection by Sky Dew, UAVs, electronic sensors and patrols. There is also no explanation for how the loss of transmission escaped notice by the military and intelligence units in the command centers.
Those units conduct regular drills and maneuvers. According to one military commander who was stationed at the Gaza border, one of those drills is a daily “dawn alert” during which both the night and day shifts inspect the border’s defenses. The Muslim forces, who invaded during the dawn hours, would have stumbled into a massive surveillance exercise by hypervigilant troops.
“In the 40 or more years that I’ve been following Israel one way or another, I’ve never seen this happen,” commented Trump-appointed former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman. “I’ve never seen the border breached in this manner. Usually, even one person from Gaza gets close to the border, they’re intercepted and neutralized long before they can do anything. This is just something I’ve never seen before. It’s of course a large intelligence failure.”
Israeli officials have also not addressed how hours after the attack began and Israel’s forces had been alerted, the invaders were able to return the way they came, taking hostages on dirt bikes back to Gaza.
“It is almost inconceivable how they missed this,” said CIA counterterrorism veteran Marc Polymeropoulos.
Security experts are also baffled as to how Israel’s intelligence network, which includes the feared Mossad and the country’s domestic intelligence agency, the Shin Bet, could have been ignorant of the operation.
“I’m truly astonished for something of this magnitude to go down and for the Israelis to have no clue that this is about to happen. I’m just speechless,” said Senior Fellow Colin Clarke at the global security research tank Soufan Center. “They have had sources inside these Palestinian groups for years.”
“Israel has exquisite, world-class intelligence collection and analysis capabilities and would have a far better picture of what’s going on in its own backyard. This one falls squarely on the Israelis,” he added.
Former Kerem Shalom Battalion Commander Yoram Erez wrote: "Something here doesn't add up to me!!! This is a mystery that I can't find an answer to since yesterday?
"I happen to know how things work in Gaza and on the border. I was the commander of the Kerem Shalom sector (Rafiah), I was in charge of Kissuf sector, I know the perimeter fence very well, I know how the army works there. I was in the Shatti refugee camp in Gaza, I was in charge of the Jibaliya refugee camp, I would make ambushes on the fence and deep in the area. I met Gazans, ate and breathed Gaza.
"The obstacle is built so that even a fox cannot pass it:
"Alerts are set according to 3 levels of pressure. It must alert when it is cut. There are, 24/7, forces that are responsible for arriving within a few minutes, if not seconds, to the point where there is an alert in the fence.
"Every day they do at least one penetration drill. Each subdivision has a standby squad whose role is to increase the force in an emergency situation. Observations scattered along the border cover every inch of it.
"The female observers are champions at identification. They don't miss. They detect movement even before it even approaches the obstacle - day and night. At problematic points (dead areas) they place a tank with observation and detection capabilities, and a terrifying firepower. In some cases snipers are deployed in the field.
"Every day before dawn there is a ‘dawn alert’ procedure. At this hour all the forces are awake (in this case also the hour when hundreds of terrorists entered Israel). The night shift alternates with the day shift. The commander of each force inspects the axis to make sure there were no infiltrations during the night.
"Trackers that move on the axis know how to recognize traces. They know who crossed the fence, how much and even when.
"Each scenario has a clear procedure. For example, a procedure for infiltrating terrorists, a procedure for taking hostages. Everything is written in blood and has been proving itself for years.
"There are several other layers of security that this is not the place to talk about. In short, we are talking about an obstacle that proves itself for years and years.
"So how the hell does a Palestinian tractor move towards the fence without anyone reacting to it?
"How did the tractor manage to sabotage the fence for a long hour and open access to Israel without anyone reacting to it?
"How did hundreds of terrorists and civilians cross the barrier without anyone on our side lifting a finger?
"How did terrorists arrive on foot and in vehicles, armed from head to toe, to dozens of Israeli settlements, without any reaction from our side?
"How did hundreds of terrorists stay in Israeli territory for long hours, shoot hundreds of Israelis, loot property, without there being even a single reaction on our side?
"How did it happen that hundreds of terrorists kidnapped dozens of Israelis, woke women, children, babies, old people from their beds, surprised soldiers, officers when they were not ready, and kidnapped them to Gaza, without anyone stopping them?
"How is it that one bullet was not fired?
"How did all this happen under our noses?
"Where did an entire division go?
"Where did 3 brigades go?
"Who swallowed 9 battalions?
"What happened to 36 companies?
"Where did an entire regular infantry brigade go that usually outnumbers the elite?
"Where were all the reserve battalions that augment the regular army?
"Where did thousands of soldiers go???
"Someone here needs to provide explanations!!"
https://frontline.news/post/security-experts-blame-israel-government-for-attack-they-had-sources-inside