Four Myths Exposed by the Hamas Attack on Israel

The horror unleashed by Hamas is only beginning. A terrorist group that killed at least 1,200 people in Israel last weekend is now endangering countless Palestinian lives, through its cynical practice of putting military capabilities in hospitals, schools and dense urban areas. But if shocks like the one Israel suffered have any upside, it’s that they expose — and provide a chance to correct — the sloppy thinking that allowed them to happen in the first place. This attack highlights four intellectual failures in the recent approach to strategy by Israel and America alike.

The first is the search for technological solutions to vexing security problems. Israel, in the run-up to this crisis, placed its faith in high-tech defenses — such as the Iron Dome anti-missile system and a state-of-the-art security barrier — meant to keep Hamas contained. It relied on ubiquitous surveillance capabilities — radar coverage, sensors, electronic eavesdropping — to reveal the enemy’s intent.