All-out war.

I certainly join the voices of many leaders who condemned Hamas' attack in the strongest terms. With that said, I am not as surprised as many that this attack in fact has taken place and claimed the lives of so many innocent Israelis, nor will I be surprised by the ongoing Israeli retaliation that will certainly claim the lives of hundreds if not thousands of Palestinians, including many innocent civilians. I'm not surprised because, like many of us who have been following the development of events between Israel and the Palestinians in the last few years, especially the past several months, I easily came to the conclusion, and stated so a number of times in my writing, that it was only a question of time when such a flare-up would take place.

This unprecedented and unimaginable attack by Hamas, from the land, air, and sea, must have taken months to plan, train, and prepare for execution. And yet Israel's 'most sophisticated' intelligence agencies did not detect even a hint of such a devastating plan. What does that say about the Israeli government, led by an arrogant and self-conceited prime minister, Netanyahu, who brags about Israel's unmatched military capabilities and preparedness?

While Netanyahu was busy plotting to crush Israel's democracy through his so-called judicial reforms, and reinforcing Israel's security in the West Bank by sending thousands of troops to protect the settlers who have been rampaging against the Palestinians, Hamas was preparing for this deadly attack on an unprecedented scale, claiming the lives of, as of this writing, 700 Israelis and abducting over 100, while exposing Israel's vulnerability in the eyes of its strongest enemies, including Hezbollah and Iran.

The timing of Hamas' attack obviously was not accidental. It was planned to take place exactly on the 50th anniversary of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. It was meant to crudely remind the Israelis that the Palestinians' rights and aspirations are not a box to be checked off, as Netanyahu recently described when asked about the prospective normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

No Israeli could have possibly believed that a so-called 'ragtag group' with 'firecrackers,' as some Israeli officials have described Hamas, that has been under blockade for 18 years, would be in a position to mount an attack of such magnitude, sending tens of thousands of Israelis to shelters, cowering in fear. For decades the Israeli government has led the public...