Another 9/11 surprise? Why Israel should give peace talks another chance

What? Again? Such was the stunning sense of surprise that rocked the world as the Palestinian militant resistance group Hamas delivered a devastating blow to Israel and the reputation of the nation’s globally respected intelligence services

- Clarence

What went wrong? For Israel, it seemed, just about everything. Crucial warnings were not heard, perhaps because Hamas was avoiding forms of communication such as mobile phones that easily could be detected. Israel’s vaunted Iron Dome missile defenses were overwhelmed by a barrage of cheaper missiles fired toward Israeli targets.

An old military saying, attributed to a range of historically famous commanders, goes, “No plan survives contact with the enemy.”

Many comparisons with 9/11 were made, especially by those of us who remember that day. So were comparisons with the Yom Kippur War, which happened to occur 50 years ago, the same week as the Gaza attack.

Or many of us were reminded of the Tet Offensive, an unexpected setback in the Vietnam War, or, of course, Pearl Harbor.