The October 7 dissenters: A massive military and intelligence failure, or something else?
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Introduction
On October 7, 2023, Hamas and other militant forces crossed from Gaza into southern Israel, attacking military sites, roads, kibbutzim, and the Nova music festival. Roughly 1,200 Israelis and foreign workers or visitors were killed during the attacks, and 251 were taken hostage, making it the deadliest day in Israeli history.
The breach itself was inexplicable as the Gaza border is perhaps the most heavily monitored high technology borders in the world. Further, Israeli intelligence is world-class and one would expect such a massive attack would be known in advance through a multitude of means, including signals intelligence (SIGINT) and human intelligence (HUMINT), and be decisively repelled. However, not only did they breach with no substantial military resistance, they then had an extended period operating within Israel with no coherent response.
Just days after the attacks, or even as events were still unfolding, people registered variable levels of disbelief. They questioned how such a comprehensive failure was even possible.
After two and a half years, one would expect we would have a clearer understanding of how such a comprehensive failure occurred. For those closely following the topic, the opposite has occurred. Evidence, interviews, and testimony have dripped out, and troubling questions only increased. Netanyahu and the Israeli government consistently resisted any comprehensive independent inquiry.
Dissenters worldwide have indicated variable levels of suspicion that Israel had explicit and actionable foreknowledge, yet allowed the attacks to succeed. Some have gone beyond suspicion, and bluntly state that an orchestrated and intentional “failure” is the only explanation for what transpired.
We do not seek to present the large body of evidence and analysis that supports their suspicions. We suggest interested parties visit the PROJECTPENS Substack, and read the detailed research report. Readers may be surprised to discover how damning the evidence and analysis is, when presented in a comprehensive report.
The Young Turks covered the general thesis in August 2025:
This investigative piece by Ben Swann is a comprehensive overview, from June 2024:
Here, we specifically seek to document how widespread the suspicions are, and highlight leading dissidents. The mainstream media does not cover this angle, or these statements. Even alternative media that are usually brave have been shockingly silent, with limited exceptions. PROJECTPENS seeks to help change that and will encourage more journalists and outlets to finally grapple with the full weight of the evidence.
We must note that the entirely unjustifiable slaughter, countless war crimes, and wars of aggression – now spread to various countries in the region – is inexcusable regardless of what occurred on October 7. The ongoing crimes massively dwarf the already immense bloodshed of October 7.
The full nature of October 7 still must be exposed as it has been put forward as a pretense and excuse for a historically unprecedented level of Israeli aggression, pursuit of expansionist aims, and horrific unbounded criminality. A full understanding of the events of October 7 – how and why those events even occurred – may be the best path to achieve de-escalation and eventually pursue peace in the region.
Israelis speak out
Even while kibbutzim remained occupied by Hamas and the events were still unfolding, some Israelis already began speaking out. The massive failure, on its face, was entirely inexplicable to many observers. Efrat Fenigson, who previously served in Israeli intelligence on the Gaza border, posted while the attacks were ongoing on the evening of October 7 itself:
Israel has one of the most advanced and high-tech armies. How come there was zero response to the border and fence breaching? I cannot understand that. Personally, I served in the IDF 25 years ago, in the intelligence forces. There’s no way Israel did not know of what’s coming. A cat moving alongside the fence is triggering all forces. So this? What happened to the “strongest army in the world”? How come border crossings were wide open? Something is very wrong here, something is very strange, this chain of events is very unusual and not typical for the Israeli defense system.
⏤ Efrat Fenigson
There was also a video of an Israeli speaking out at length, indicating similar forms of disbelief:
Now, you can assume that the Shabak did not know about this attack, but that’s highly improbable. Israel is probably the most advanced surveillance state in the world, and the Gaza border is probably the most heavily surveilled. And the Shabak who somehow knew how about a guy who had Corona in a toy store and tracked him all the way to a soccer stadium during the days of Corona [somehow] didn’t know about this massive attack planned by thousands of random Gazans on pickup trucks and hang gliders? Are you serious? Are you really that stupid? Do you really believe that? Cuz if you do, I have a bridge to sell you.
This video became somewhat viral in the weeks after October 7, but the speaker was likely cowed by the backlash. His original posting was pulled from public social media, and his identity is now a mystery to the wider internet.
From speaking with Israelis we want to note that these dissenting opinions are undeniably a minority opinion among Israelis. However, they were always present and continue to persist. There is a recent sign that younger Israelis, active on social media and exposed to a wider diversity of evidence, are more skeptical. The Times of Israel reported on a poll that shows 46% of first-time voters in the coming election believe there was “some form of internal betrayal that led to the events of October 7.” There are some oddities and deeply misguided opinions that frequently coexist with these suspicions, but that is a topic we will discuss in a separate piece.
One of the contributors at PROJECTPENS noted his disbelief as soon as he heard about the events of October 7, 2023. He has extended family in Israel, including a cousin in the IDF. For multiple reasons he is forced to utilize a pen name at present. To publicly work on such matters could even cause him to be barred entry into Israel. Here is his initial post reacting to the attacks:
Within Israel the social pressures and risks of ostracization are immense. Straightforward reporting on factual matters can invite violence or threats of violence. Further, there are now laws that chill debate and proscribe questions about the official narrative. To be active on such topics could possibly yield criminal charges, or some other form of state repression. We also must note that Israel does not have freedom of the press, and any matters that could concern the military or “security” are subjected to military censors.
Nonetheless, some Israelis speak their opinions and will not be silenced. Efrat Fenigson is a case study on such principled speech, and we want to show her trajectory after her initial October 7th post we highlighted above. She did a follow-up post and on October 10th went on Bret Weinstein’s podcast. Bret Weinstein is a popular science-based Jewish American podcaster, and his Darkhorse podcast has over half a million subscribers on YouTube alone. On this podcast they had a wide-ranging discussion and serious questions were raised by both parties. Interesting quotes include the following:
Bret Weinstein (BW): When I saw the attack, my first thought literally, was, how is this even possible on that border that it could be breached by so many people simultaneously? One would have expected if an attack had been successful that the number of people got through initially would have been small […] but to have hundreds get through and operate um, barely impeded for was it a full day almost? […] if somebody submitted it as a script you would say that is implausible and so it did lead me to wonder what could possibly explain such a failure. Incompetence seems inadequate to explain it. Now you’re in a position to say more about this because you have, you have manned that border.
Efrat Fenigson (EF): […] it’s just the people of Israel have been, I don’t know if sacrifice is too rough of a word, but we have been sold and uh [BW: sold out] sold out completely and uh no help for hours, and hours and no military involvement, no police, no arms on the ground, for hours and hours. This is something that is non-typical and unusual for Israel Defense Forces. Now I’ve served in the military forces 25 years ago as uh, I was in the intelligence forces, based in the Gaza Strip as I told you and I know the security drills.
Questions persisted for Efrat, and she added more evidence and analysis in later posts. On March 24, 2024 she discussed additional October 7 issues with Lewis Brackpool. On July 31, 2025 she posted about Shalom Sheetrit. Sheetrit was an Israeli soldier who had his Gaza border patrol stood down at 5:20 AM on the morning of October 7, with no explanation given. The attacks began roughly an hour later. On the two year anniversary Efrat continued to speak out, and reiterated her unchanged position.
PROJECTPENS will work to bring more Israeli voices out from the shadows in the coming months. Multiple Israelis we spoke to indicated that some friend or family member had deep questions – including people who were actively serving in the IDF on October 7 – yet nobody was willing to go on the record or connect us with the dissenting Israeli.
Israelis who would like to make a statement – openly, or fully anonymously – should contact PROJECTPENS.
Global voices
The following sections are meant to aggregate leading dissidents from various areas of expertise – including decorated US veterans and intelligence professionals, professors, and even a presidential candidate. Voices that Google and other search engines were “unable” to find. In another article we will describe the shocking algorithmic suppression of these voices. We also include quotes never made public previously. Readers can judge for themselves if they are credible sources, assess their statements, and take in the full context articles or interviews, as desired.
Military and Intelligence Professionals
Colonel Douglas Macgregor – Retired U.S. Army colonel who served for 28 years in the Army, taught at West Point, and served as the Senior Advisor to the Acting Secretary of Defense.
On Judging Freedom January 23, 2025 (full):
And I say tragedy because I think eventually it will come out that 7 October was allowed to happen. That 7 October was not a surprise. There’s plenty of evidence on the street right now. And if that comes out, I think Mr. Netanyahu and his friends are going to be in very serious trouble at home. [Judge Napolitano: Well they’re gonna go to jail] It was used an excuse to sort of, practice arson across the region.
On Part of the Problem with Dave Smith October 2, 2025 (full):
I visited Gaza the Israeli headquarters down there in 2020 February and I saw everything that they did. The Israelis had that place so locked down so tight you can’t even begin to imagine the quality of their intelligence [...] But when the attack happened on 7 October one of the things I began thinking about immediately was how did this happen. And within two weeks it became pretty damn obvious to me that this was not an accident. This was deliberate. They let it happen. And when I say they who are we talking about? We’re talking about the leadership of the military, the state, the intelligence. […] And then it became very obvious that this is a trigger to unleash this massive murder and expulsion campaign. And that’s what it has been.
On DEEP FOCUS with John Kiriakou October 31, 2025 (full):
I had been down at the headquarters, the Israel Defense Force headquarters that is responsible for the Southern Command and I can tell you that they had a grip on Gaza that was absolutely beyond anything I’ve ever seen anywhere else in the world.
[…] If, if there was someone that took a shot at someone across the uh you know zone, tried to shoot an Israeli soldier in a tower, bang, they knew who that was instantly. So when this happened, I was very suspicious because it just didn’t track with my experience. Shin Bet, Mossad, and the professional leadership of the Israeli Defense Forces are too competent. Where was the reaction force? Uh, where was the instantaneous alarm, you know, that should have risen. Then we find out about the Israeli women who were part of an intelligence cell who say they reported this over and over and over again, well in advance saying “Something’s coming. This is what we’ve seen.” Then you have the deputy chief of staff for intelligence in Egypt. And of course the Egyptians have always been very wary of Hamas, and they said, “We see a giant attack coming from Hamas. What are you doing to get ready for this?” So I finally walked away and said, “This is a, this was designed to trigger this larger campaign against everybody in the region that Israel wants to destroy.” And they saw this as an ideal opportunity to drag us in and we have willingly walked in. I don’t see that ending anytime soon.
Larry Wilkerson – Lawrence “Larry” Wilkerson is a retired U.S. Army colonel and former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell. He is widely recognized for his critical analysis of U.S. intelligence practices, military interventions, and Israel’s role in regional conflicts, often challenging official narratives from an insider’s perspective.
Private email assessing the PROJECTPENS draft report from November 15, 2025:
The report is right – this is utterly damning, in so many ways and about so many people and organizations, procedures, and ultimately top leadership, including the prime minister [Benjamin Netanyahu]. In reporting the many separate failings, there is no way one can conclude that simply utter negligence explains the comprehensive failures. The failures suggest complicity, a desire to “let things happen,” and then capitalize on them – whether to remove the prime minister from his political perils, or to excuse the genocide to come, or both!
Philip Giraldi - Seasoned security consultant and former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operations officer with extensive experience in international counterterrorism. During his 20-year intelligence career, he served in diverse theaters across Europe and the Middle East, including a pivotal role as a Chief of Base.
Giraldi in a social media post, reproduced in an article October 11, 2023:
As a former intelligence officer, it is impossible for me to believe that Israel did not have numerous informants inside Gaza, as well as wiretapping devices installed all along the border wall, which would have made it possible to identify the movements of groups and vehicles.
In other words, it could all be a pack of lies, as is often the case.
General Michael Flynn - Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General with a 33-year military career marked by leadership in intelligence and counterterrorism. Rising from a second lieutenant in military intelligence, he played pivotal roles in operations across Grenada, Haiti, Afghanistan, and Iraq, including directing intelligence for Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC).
Multiple interviews including on Bannon’s War Room August 6, 2025 (full):
Israel […] They’re going to have to do some soul-searching and I mean immediate soul-searching because the 7th of October was a date, you know, that they still have not been able to and there’s an investigation going on and I’ve already heard from some of the soldiers that were told to stand down and the, the exact hours. So something bad happened and it was an inside thing. […] So that’s a bombshell right there. […]
You can go back to interviews that I did like the next day and the following week after October 7th in multiple broad alternative media where I said something went wrong. Because Steve, I have personally walked that border. I have been down at those areas and I know the details of how the Israelis, one of the most secure borders in the world, how they do their operations. So I know that. So something broke down and it wasn’t because of mistakes.
Intellectuals, politicians, and other prominent voices
Ralph Nader – A four-time presidential candidate and lifelong critic of corporate power, he brings prestige to his commentary on U.S. foreign policy. Nader has extensively analyzed Middle East geopolitics, critiquing U.S.-Israel ties, advocating a two-state solution for Palestine, and addressing conflicts in Gaza and Iran.
Common Dreams opinion piece May 31, 2025:
All this world-shaking violence started when, whether by colossal blunder or contrivance, Netanyahu’s ultra-modern border security apparatus collapsed in all its parts on October 7, 2023. He has tellingly blocked any official investigation. This is a story that must be probed until Netanyahu’s responsibility for enabling Hamas is exposed. Earlier he had bragged about supporting and helping to fund Hamas year after year because of Hamas’ opposition to a two-state solution.
Professor Michel Chossudovsky - Professor emeritus of economics at the University of Ottawa. Canadian academic, economist, and prolific author known for his extensive body of work on global economic policy and international affairs.
Chossudovsky in an article days after the attack, on October 11, 2023:
This is not a failure of Israeli intelligence services, as the media claims. Quite the contrary. Evidence and testimony suggest that the Netanyahu government was aware of Hamas’ actions which led the deaths of hundreds of Israelis and Palestinians. And “they let it happen”.
Charlie Kirk - Charlie Kirk was a highly influential conservative strategist and the founder of Turning Point USA, serving as a key ally to President Donald Trump and a prominent voice in American foreign policy discourse. Renowned for his advocacy, he maintained significant standing in Washington, D.C., and was a vocal participant in international geopolitical debates, particularly regarding the U.S.-Israel relationship.
On PDB Podcast October 11, 2023:
So I’ve been in Israel many times, the whole country is a fortress. When I first heard this story, I still have the same gut instinct that I did initially, I find this very hard to believe. I’ve been to that Gaza border. You cannot go 10 feet without running into a 19 year-old with an AR-15 or an automatic machine-gun that’s an IDF soldier. Right, the whole country is surveilled. […]
I’m not willing to say, to go so far say that, Netanyahu knew or there was intelligence, but I think some questions need to be asked. Was there a stand down order? 6 hours? I don’t believe it. Israel’s the size of New Jersey. When I took a helicopter ride, from Jerusalem to the Gaza border, it’s 45 minutes. 6 hours? They’re livestreaming the killing of Jews. Did somebody in the government say stand down? That is a legitimate non-conspiracy question. The whole country is the IDF.
Live Free Tour event, late October, 2023:
Fact number one- Axios article shows that a equivalent of a council of decision makers were briefed on Friday night before the attack that there was growing chatter and activity on the Gaza border and there was a deliberate decision not to put it on high alert. The why we don’t know. The what is unmistakable. Fact number two- 1973, 50 years ago, and I’m not saying this is what happened, but you better know about this. Golda Meir was briefed by her military and they said Egypt and Syria are about to invade. We can strike now and we can save lots of Jewish lives and she said do not strike. Let them hit first or else the international community will be very very upset with us. That’s 50 years ago to the date that Golda Meir made that decision. […] I am going to continue to ask the question. A 20 hour response in a country the size of New Jersey? That that begs a big explanation. And more importantly, America is significantly underwriting the Israeli government, $4 billion a year. We as American taxpayers deserve answers to this. We deserve answers. Also, if we’re going to get into a regional or world war based on an intel failure. So, um I mean, we pay for this. What are we buying? Right? I got smeared as a Jew hater, an anti-Semite, and conspiracy theorist because I said exactly what I just said. And I refused to back down despite all the smears thrown at me […] you better keep asking questions because it’s the only thing that keeps us free.
Professor Richard Falk – Professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, where he served for over 40 years. With degrees from Yale Law School and Harvard, he has authored over 75 influential books on global governance, human rights, and peace. Falk served as the UN Special Rapporteur on Palestinian territories from 2008 until 2014.
Interviewed by Mike Billington at the Schiller Institute July 31, 2025:
Netanyahu came before the (UN) General Assembly several weeks before October 7th and waved a map at the delegates which showed what he called the “new Middle East” with no Palestinian entity acknowledged. Therefore, I think October 7th in the broader context of what was called, even by Washington, the most extreme Israeli government ever to govern, was this kind of onslaught on Gaza as a way of terminating any Palestinian expectations of statehood or of continued resistance.
It’s well known that Netanyahu and the Israeli leadership had several very reliable warnings of the impending Gaza attack, including from Washington, months before the event, and that this was either deliberately ignored, or certainly not responded to with any kind of typical Israeli security preoccupations.
Paul Craig Roberts – Distinguished American economist and former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under President Reagan. With a PhD from the University of Virginia, he held prestigious positions at the Hoover Institution, Georgetown University, and as associate editor of The Wall Street Journal.
Paul Craig Roberts Institute for Political Economy, soon after the attacks, October 9, 2023:
[…] Israel’s security system, including the Iron Dome the US constructed for Israel, simultaneously failed. Mysteriously, the Hamas fighters entered Israel on the ground and through the air and on the sea without being detected. Mysteriously, large quantities of weapons entered Palestine through Israel without being detected. This is too much convenient failure to be believable. It will be interesting to see if anyone in Israel is held accountable for the total security failure.
[…] We have a motive. Israel can now steal the rest of Palestine. Another motive might be that Israel can expand the conflict into a wider war and succeed this time in grabbing the water resources of southern Lebanon. It could even get nastier with Israeli moves against Syria and Iran. Oil prices could go sky high causing world disruption. A victorious war and the end of the Palestinian problem would free Netanyahu from his legal and political problems. There is a lot to think about.
But let’s move on to the security failure that made the attack possible. Why would Netanyahu enable Hamas to attack Israel by standing down Israel security? It seems a nonsensical suggestion, but isn’t as it creates the conditions in which Israel can absorb all that remains of Palestine, just as 9/11 created the conditions for the neoconservatives to launch the wars they had planned in the Middle East.
Paul Craig Roberts Institute for Political Economy, at the one year anniversary October 6, 2024:
First, the early Israeli news releases that greatly exaggerated the atrocities attributed to Hamas were dutifully spread around the world by political leaders and echoed by a compliant media. But more than this, the complete absence of self-scrutiny involving the obvious lapse of Israeli border security helped shift exclusive responsibility to the attackers. This pattern gave rise to suspicions because of widespread reports of reliable warnings given personally to Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders in the days and months before October 7. In light of this it seems highly improbable that the impending Hamas attack was unknown to Israeli intelligence, likely supplemented by surveillance capabilities that could not have missed the training and rehearsals that almost openly preceded the attack.
Conclusion… and moving forward
This article is meant to serve as an anchor point, and aggregate major voices who are asking hard questions about October 7. As seen in the quotes, some individuals are not just asking questions – they have come to a conclusion.
We hope this has given readers serious reason to question the official narrative. For those who want significant depth on the entire thesis, including damning evidence from many angles, see the full PROJECTPENS research report. PROJECTPENS will also be publishing shorter articles that delve deeper into specific aspects of October 7, and also provide larger historical or contextual analysis.
We hope that the distinguished voices we highlight here only grow with time. Ultimately we hope open exposure, and trials, are realized. Only the truth can yield de-escalation, a true ceasefire, and eventually move the region towards actual peace.
Thank you for your time. If you would like to comment, this version is available for open commentary!
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We started this research and report before the one year anniversary of October 7th, in 2024. We spent a lot of time. A lot. A simple tip, large or small, helps defray costs from subscriptions and much else. We even had a week in Cairo speaking with some Gazans who fled. We will anonymize them, but will share some of their experiences in time. Thank you, shukran, toda, gracias, danke, merci, etc.!
Version notes
PP-V1.0 – Initial version, 5/31/2026