Hamas anfaller Israel (2023-10-07)

Shin Bet, or the Israeli Security Agency, has identified the polarisation of the Israeli population as a principal internal preoccupation. The domestic demands of the ultra-orthodox Jewish community were damaging to national unity, and the resentment of the secular majority of the privileges extended to the growing orthodox minority – exemption from military service and, in practice, even from work – was fraying the social cohesion on which the Israeli state had so long relied.

Many in the military leadership were concerned that these developments weakened Israel’s military preparedness. Between March and July, Israeli Air Force reservists refused to keep up their training hours, helicopter instructor pilots refused to report for duty and active reservists in the special forces refused to volunteer for service, all in protest of the country’s direction. Many began to worry that the Israel Defense Forces would lose their operational readiness, surge capacities, and, importantly, their ‘deterrent character’.