When the October 7th attack happened, the conspiracy-theory-inclined part of my hindbrain immediately contemplated whether Netanyahu knew it was coming but let it happen because it worked to his advantage.
It's still hard for my real-world brain to be convinced of that, by the NYT's latest story indicating that Israel had knowledge of Hamas' plans a year before the attack was realized certainly adds fuel to the conspiratorial thinking...
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/30/w...elligence.html
Quote:
Israeli officials obtained Hamas’s battle plan for the Oct. 7 terrorist attack more than a year before it happened, documents, emails and interviews show. But Israeli military and intelligence officials dismissed the plan as aspirational, considering it too difficult for Hamas to carry out.
...
Hamas followed the blueprint with shocking precision. The document called for a barrage of rockets at the outset of the attack, drones to knock out the security cameras and automated machine guns along the border, and gunmen to pour into Israel en masse in paragliders, on motorcycles and on foot — all of which happened on Oct. 7.
...
The document circulated widely among Israeli military and intelligence leaders, but experts determined that an attack of that scale and ambition was beyond Hamas’s capabilities, according to documents and officials. It is unclear whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or other top political leaders saw the document, as well.
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Shades of the warnings the Bush administration had before 9/11, which fuelled similar conspiracy theories at the time (beyond the administration's sheer incompetence, of course).