Shin Bet And October 7th in Israel

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                    

According to the latest Central Bureau of Statistics figures ahead of Rosh Hashanah, Israel's population is at an estimated 10.305 million, with 7.828 million Jews and 2.173 million are Arabs. 

Breakdown of the Population

Male Population: ~49.8% of the total population.
Female Population: ~50.17% to 50.2% of the total population.
Sex Ratio: About 99.2 males for every 100 females.
Approximately 120,000 citizens turn 18 in Israel each year and reach the age to register for the Israel Defense Forces, (IDF) split roughly evenly between males and females.
Obligation: Compulsory service applies to Jewish men and women, as well as Druze and Circassian men. 
Exemptions: Non-Druze Arab citizens, certain religious women, married individuals, and those medically or mentally unfit are exempt.
Annual Intake: Recent draft data shows that active annual conscript intakes skew toward men (around 58% to 62%) versus women (38% to 42%). 
Active Service Age: The active draft age is typically 18, though new recruits can range from 17 up to their late 20s or early 30s depending on specialized programs or immigration status. 



In this day and age, the IDF is constantly on the front lines of a war. The IDF and Shin Bet report that they had destroyed three weapons depots and a rocket launch pit in Gaza, belonging to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, that had been used to fire rockets at Israel during the war.
 A statement said, “The terrorist organizations stored dozens of different kinds of weapons inside the storage facilities, including rockets, Kalachnikov rifles, and additional combat equipment. 
Furthermore, the IDF identified that recently, Hamas terrorists have been arriving at the storage facilities and using the weapons stored inside them to establish control in the Gaza Strip and carry out operations."s

Ronen Bar, Shin Bet Chief, now clashing in court showroom
We know what the IDF is, and that we have been fighting in a defensive position, but Shin Bet?  What is that?  The Shin Bet (also known as the Israel Security Agency or Shabak) is Israel's internal security and counterintelligence service. 
Core Responsibilities of Shin Bet
Counterterrorism: Detecting and preventing terrorist networks, plots, and attacks within Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza.(and of course the big questions is what happened to allow Oct 7th to happen?  Our guard was down.)According to AI, The [Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar knew an invasion was likely by 4:30 AM on October 7, 2023, but did not immediately wake Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or sound a wide alarm. 
Intelligence and Early Morning Failures
Late Warnings: The Shin Bet only updated the prime minister's military secretary minutes before the assault began. 
Ignored Plans: Internal agency investigations later admitted that the Shin Bet dismissed prior blueprints of Hamas attacks (such as "The Walls of Jericho" plan) and falsely assumed Hamas did not want an all-out war. 
Missed Signals: The agency suffered from gaps in human intelligence and failed to piece together tactical indicators happening hours and days before the invasion. (That's not like them).  
Counterintelligence: Protecting state secrets, uncovering foreign espionage, and preventing subversion.
Protective Security: Securing high-ranking government officials (including the prime minister), national infrastructure, embassies, and the national airline, El Al. 
Organization and Structure
Leadership: The head of the Shin Bet reports directly to the Prime Minister of Israel.
Community: It is one of the three main branches of the Israeli intelligence community, alongside Mossad (foreign intelligence) and Aman (military intelligence).
Motto: "Magen veLo Yera'e" ("Defender that shall not be seen" or "The unseen shield"). 

Trump and Netanyahu Over Qatar, Gaza War

 Nadene Goldfoot                                       

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 79th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, Sept. 27, 2024. (last year).  United Nations — 

Israel’s prime minister told the U.N. General Assembly Friday that Israel is “winning” in its fight against terrorists and their patrons in Iran who perpetrated the October 7 terror attacks on his country. “I have a message for the tyrants of Tehran,” Benjamin Netanyahu said. “If you strike us, we will strike you. “There is no place — there is no place — in Iran that the long arm of Israel cannot reach. And that's true of the entire Middle East.”

The editorial from Times Of Israel in the article on By ToI Staff18 September 2025, 12:20 pm,  states that Trump is not happy with Israel at the moment when Israel attacked Hamas leaders in Qatar, not publicly killing the sought-after head leaders,  but won't break with Israel  publicly.  Trump, it seems, not happy with the ongoing Gaza war either, that he wanted finished.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump feels Israel is f-----g him.  Trump was speaking to his aides,  including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, about how to respond to Israel’s strike against Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, earlier this month. 

Who was Trump concerned about?  Qatar or Israel?   Trump has also praised the "Qatar "Gulf emirate as a “great ally” and pledged that Israel won’t attack on its soil again.

"The Journal report noted, however, the US president is broadly accommodating of Netanyahu’s decisions, even when they appear to contradict the White House’s stated goals with respect to the war in Gaza and Middle East relations more broadly." So if reporters wonder whose side Trump is on; think how Netanyahu must be feeling.

Netanyahu is always blamed, the profound scapegoat of his people and the world abroad, but he isn't a dictator.  He has a government to run made up of left and right with their extremes giving him their opinions and desires.  He has an army full of Generals;  While an exact number is not publicly disclosed, the number of generals in the Israeli army is estimated to be around 115, though it fluctuates based on the shifting command structure. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) uses the Hebrew word aluf for a general-rank officer, and there are three different general ranks. 

Here are the 3:                       

• Rav Aluf (Lieutenant General): The highest rank in the IDF, which is held only by the Chief of the General Staff. Under normal circumstances, there is only one active Rav Aluf at any given time. As of March 2025, that position is held by Eyal Zamir.
• Aluf (Major General): In 2021, the number of officers with this rank was estimated at 24. They lead regional commands and branches of the IDF, such as the air force and navy.
• Tat Aluf (Brigadier General): As of 2021, there were an estimated 89 officers with this rank. 
• On August 5, 2025, Netanyahu held a three-hour meeting with IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and Defense Minister Israel Katz to discuss plans for expanding military operations in Gaza.
• Reports from early August 2025 also indicate meetings between Netanyahu and security chiefs regarding proposals for a full takeover of the Gaza Strip.
• Heated disagreements: News outlets have reported on stormy or heated exchanges between Netanyahu and his generals during cabinet meetings, indicating frequent, and sometimes tense, interactions.  They can have very heated disagreements.  There is a reason why Netanyahu has served 3 terms at different times.
• • First term: 1996 to 1999
  • Second, third, fourth, and fifth terms: 2009 to 2021
  • Sixth term (current): 2022 to the present.  
  • When things get bad, people feel safer with Netanyahu. He's from Likud, a tougher political group.  
  • When things were being given away that mattered a great deal, like part of Israel, that was done by the liberal political group, not there for the same reasons as Likud.   
   So Netanyahu gets pressure from all sides:  his wife, children,knesset members, generals, his own political party of Likud, and now Trump, citizen marches, hostage's parents, TV stations, radio stations, newspapers and magazines, 
• There's the 7 areas they area fighting in.   Jul 3, 2024 — Newsweek outlines active clashes in Gaza, the West Bank -Judea and Samaria) , Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Iran as regional tensions mount. and now the whole UN is against him made up of 193 countries of which only 10 stood with Israel, and that includes the USA. The fact is,
• 
                      NETANYAHU WHEN FIRST A SOLDIER, born October 21, 1949,  will soon be 75 years old.  He lost his older brother in a previous war.  Yonatan "Yoni" Netanyahu, was killed during Operation Entebbe in 1976.  He was the leader.   
• Israel has only one President, and that is Netanyahu.  Trump is not President of Israel, too, only a friend who has been in the past a great friend. 
•  Like my old age, Netanyahu is going as fast as time permits.  One cannot click one's fingers to win a war, even to accommodate another's wishes.   The enemy is elusive.   This is a first in the act of war.  Books will be written about it and moves will be studied and discussed.  
• Trump has never been an enlisted soldier and neither has he ever been in a war.  
• Trump should know that 

The U.S. and Israeli armies differ significantly in their scale, doctrine, culture, and strategic environment. While the U.S. military is a global expeditionary force, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is a highly-specialized regional force focused on its immediate neighborhood.  

The Israeli army Has a more informal, mission-focused culture where rank is less emphasized among enlisted soldiers. This fosters initiative but can result in a more relaxed approach. It is  a conscription-based "people's army" with mandatory service for most citizens. This results in a large, well-integrated reserve force and lately they've worked too long a shift without breaks.  Officers are often very young.

a thought at 4pm;  While watching ILTV and giving horses to Israel, I want to say that Jews do not eat horse meat;  it's forbidden as it is not a kosher animal  Neither is camel meat. Do Arabs?   Yes, many Arabs eat camel meat as a traditional and culturally significant food, though the specific practice varies by region and family. However, horse meat consumption is generally not a traditional part of Arab culture and is considered culturally unacceptable in most Arab societies, similar to other cultures where horses are valued as companions or working animals. 

Resource:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7322637/#:~:text=The%20camel%20meat%20is%20rich,presumed%20medicinal%20benefits%20%5B3%5D.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe2qMBhU3PI&t=172s