[finnbow]

Originally Posted by Mark B

Snarky insults doesn't lend credibility to your response.

I read the linked articles before my initial response, and I didn't -- and still don't -- think any of the articles answered the very specific question I asked:

I see nothing in Bibi's policy toward the Palestinian Authority and Hamas that would lead a neutral observer to believe it would encourage Hamas to stage a massive terrorist attack on Israel.

Quoting the warning from the UPI article:

[QUOTE/] -- Israeli intelligence said it warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government that passing judicial reforms that sparked widespread protests would put the country at risk and embolden its enemies, according to officials on Friday.

The Israeli Defense Forces said that the Israeli Air Force chief Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar warned in a recent meeting with a forum of senior commanders that Israel's enemies may attempt to test them because of protesting reservists who said they would not serve because of the reforms.

I guess I'm not clear how emboldening an attack and encouraging an attack are materially different though I didn't use the latter characterization, you did. And all I did was quote officials from the Israeli Defense and Intelligence officials.

Here's more for ya:

"In one survey of Jewish Israelis, 86 percent of respondents—including 79 percent of government supporters—said that the catastrophic assault from Gaza was a failure of the country’s leadership...(T)he litany of Netanyahu’s failures is long. By his own admission, he purposely propped up Hamas as a counterbalance to the more moderate Palestinian Authority in order to keep the Palestinian public divided and prevent a negotiated two-state solution...

And the rot runs deeper. Since returning to power in December, Netanyahu has spent months shredding Israel’s social solidarity and projecting weakness to its foes. He provoked unprecedented domestic unrest with his coalition’s deeply unpopular attempt to gut Israel’s judiciary, pitting the country’s people against one another. He fired and then unfired his defense minister for warning that the plan was causing divisions that were undermining Israel’s security...

The disaster of October 7 was the overdetermined outcome of years of Netanyahu’s poor choices."

https://www.theatlantic.com/internat...ailure/675722/