Israel – Hebrew media reported on Tuesday that an Israeli Air Force officer admitted that Tel Aviv could not have fought in Gaza for more than a few months without the military aid it received from the United States.
The Hebrew newspaper Haaretz quoted an officer, who did not reveal his identity, as saying: “If it were not for the Americans supplying the Israeli army with weapons, especially the air force, it would have been difficult for Israel to continue its war for more than a few months.”
The officer continued: “The (Israeli) Air Force is working on formulating a recommendation to increase the production of bombs, missiles and other munitions domestically, in an attempt to reduce its dependence on other countries, especially the United States.”
According to the newspaper, “Implementing such a change will take several years and tens of billions of additional shekels in funding, because most of the Air Force’s equipment in the war so far has been purchased from American companies using American military aid.”
“If the recommendations are passed, the Israeli defense industry will significantly increase its manufacturing capacity and will be forced to hire more workers, mostly in engineering and other technical fields,” she said.
The newspaper pointed out that “with the approval of the US Congress, the administration of (President Joe Biden) sent unprecedented emergency military aid worth $14 billion, in addition to the regular annual US military aid of $3.8 billion.”
She continued: “Washington also sent another $500 million to Israeli air defense systems: Iron Dome, Arrow, and David’s Sling.”
“The desire to reduce Israel’s dependence on external suppliers is more understandable in light of the Biden administration’s delays when it comes to special munitions,” she said.
On the other hand, the newspaper quoted the officer as saying that he “did not want to find excuses for what happened on October 7, even if the Air Force was not responsible for most of the shortcomings.”
On October 7, the Palestinian factions surprised Israel with an attack on dozens of settlements and military bases adjacent to the Gaza Strip, which has been under siege for years, killing and wounding hundreds of Israelis and capturing dozens.
“In defending the border, the air force was subordinate to the Southern Command, yet it is clear to us that the surprise was substantial and comprehensive compared to the reference scenario, which stated that in the worst case there might be a raid of dozens of militants in two or three locations,” the officer said.
According to the newspaper, “Such a scenario was codenamed ‘Palestinian Knight,’ and in practice, between 3,500 and 4,000 members of the elite force of the factions’ movement breached the border fence and the underground barrier in 72 locations.”
The Israeli officer added: “We are not trying to whitewash the failure, which was huge for us and for the entire Israeli army.”
He saw that “similar to the intelligence failure that preceded the Yom Kippur War (the October War, a simultaneous surprise attack launched by Egypt and Syria) in 1973, the prevailing assumption was that Military Intelligence and the Shin Bet internal security service would provide a warning, even if the raid was on a small number of sites.”
Since the October 7, 2023 attack, harsh criticism has been directed at Israel’s political and military leaders, as well as the security services, for their failure, first, to predict and prevent the attack, and second, for their delay in dealing with it when it occurred and their failure to prevent the capture of Israelis and their transfer to Gaza.
With full American support, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7, leaving more than 135,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing, amidst massive destruction and deadly famine.
Agencies
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2024-09-03 17:59:14
