The Al-Aqsa Storm operation launched on October 7th 2023 revealed the fragility of Israel's self-proclaimed strength and intelligence. This claim is fading, leaving behind a serious strategic, military and economic dilemma that may threaten Israel's existence. 

The shock was not limited to the security failure and military defeat, but went beyond that to all state institutions and Israeli society as a whole. Al-Aqsa Storm brought state institutions into an imbalance not seen in Israel even during the October 1973 war. Moreover, this operation affected Israel's struggling economic file, draining its resources from all sides.

While the world was warming up to the glow of progress and development, Israel exploited these developments as a cover to hide its glaring shortcomings and miserable failures - weaponizing the tools of science and technology to sustain its aggressive and racist tendencies, keeping the Israeli killing machine running.

Intelligence Agencies' Retreat

The Israeli occupation army has long been considered one of the strongest armies in the region. However, the recent defeat by the Palestinian resistance in Gaza revealed its fragility and lack of preparedness.  

The purportedly most technologically advanced army failed to repel the surprise attack carried out by Al-Qassam Brigades and other resistance factions.

Despite its overwhelming numerical and material superiority, it failed to achieve its goals and suffered tremendous human and moral losses.  

This sparked a wave of widespread criticism within Israel and raised questions about this army's readiness and ability to fulfill its tasks.

The recent Al-Aqsa Storm operation revealed the tremendous systemic failure and disastrous intelligence breakdown within the Israeli intelligence system, especially the military intelligence agency Aman responsible for managing and leveraging intelligence.  

Despite Aman obtaining advance information about the resistance’s intentions to launch a major attack, the agency completely failed to leverage that information and turn it into practical “preventive” measures.

This is attributed to the agency’s poor assessment of the importance of that information, and the abhorrent state of inertia and bureaucracy that the intelligence system suffers from. All of which robbed Aman of the ability to confront the attack and confused decision-making centers.  

Aman’s failure peaked with the killing of three Israeli soldiers by occupation forces themselves, in a scene that reveals the extent of chaos and confusion within the Israeli military institution.  

Although accurate information was available to the security agencies about the soldiers' whereabouts, the state of bewilderment and poor coordination resulted in occupation forces “unintentionally” killing their own soldiers.  

This incident represented a harsh slap to the face of the security system, clearly exposing the depth of negligence and mismanagement.  

The problem no longer lies in the lack of information, but in the inability to leverage it and translate it into effective actions on the ground.

The incident of killing the three Israeli soldiers by occupation forces themselves was just the final chapter in the saga of recklessness and indifference that characterized the security agencies' handling of this tragic affair.  

Five days prior to the incident, a camera mounted on one of the police dogs had captured live footage of the three hostages inside the building where they were held, just one kilometer away from where they were later executed.  

But as usual, the security agencies failed to capitalize on that vital footage to locate the hostages and rescue them. Instead, another dog was sent to investigate the building, only to get killed instantly.  

This incident made it absolutely clear the extent of dysfunction and neglect within the Israeli security system, delivering a painful blow to the reputed efficiency of these agencies.

How did the Israeli economy get hit by October 7?

Despite the structural strength of the Israeli economy and the tremendous support Israel received from the Western bloc led by the US and its European allies after its aggression on Gaza on October 7, the world credit rating agencies shifted outlook for the Israeli economy from "stable" to “negative”. Standard & Poor's Global forecasted around 5 percentage points contraction in the Israeli economy in the last quarter of this year. Both Moody's and Fitch announced placing Israel's domestic and global credit ratings under review for a downgrade.  

Despite direct intervention from Bank of Israel (Central Bank) pumping around $30 billion to contain rising demand for dollar and prevent further deterioration in exchange rate, Israeli Shekel lost more than 5% of its dollar value since Israeli aggression on Gaza strip.  

It appears that the central bank chose to sacrifice part of its foreign currency reserves in order to avoid raising interest rates - so as not to exacerbate the potential decline in domestic consumption and investment spending, and to prevent the economy from sliding into a deeper recession. This allows us to say that Al-Aqsa Storm operation shook the Israeli economy as much as it shook its security, military and political institutions. 

For his part, Bank of Israel governor Amir Yaron expected the cost of the war on Gaza to reach 210 billion shekels ($56 billion) for defense and compensation for those displaced from homes in the south due to Palestinian resistance operations.  

A revised draft of Israel’s 2024 budget showed the budget deficit is expected to rise from 2.25% to 6.6% of GDP during the current year.  

According to the draft budget, the Gaza war that began on October 7 will lead to a 1.1 percentage point contraction of economic growth for the current year after expected losses of 1.4 percentage points last year.  

The financial impact of the war is estimated at around 150 billion shekels ($40.25 billion) in 2023-2024, assuming the war ends in the first quarter of the year.  

Israel's Finance Ministry admitted that Israel recorded a budget deficit of 4.2% of GDP in 2023, compared to a surplus of 0.6% in 2022, attributing this to increased government spending to fund its aggression on Gaza strip.

Their Last Hope after Weapons and Plans Sunset  

Amidst the recurring Israeli military disappointments in Gaza and after all plans and strategies saw failure vanishing before their eyes, artificial intelligence was the perfect solution for an “army” used to harnessing everything towards quenching its brutality and tyranny. It is no surprise for it to sharpen digital technology tools to become more lethal, literally embodying “Zionazi”.

Since the start of its aggression on Gaza, it has been trying to draw out everything in its arsenal in this confrontation, using the latest and most advanced weapons relying on artificial intelligence tools, so that the death toll rises with more murder and destruction.  

In this regard, a report in the American Politico newspaper stated that America sent hundreds of short-range reconnaissance drones called loitering munitions that rely in their movement on artificial intelligence and its tools without the need for human guidance. It added that they are used to conduct a three-dimensional survey of complex engineering structures such as buildings of all kinds.  

The occupation also uses US company Shield AI's autonomous drones, specifically Covox drones that are only used inside buildings. They rely on mapping computer vision algorithms to move autonomously inside buildings without needing GPS or human guidance.  

American media reported that "Israel" asked the United States for 200 Switchblade 600 model suicide drones, which have an advanced camera and can carry an explosive payload, noting that they have the ability to receive information from unmanned aerial vehicles.

Additionally, the Israeli occupation uses the intelligent Jospl system to estimate the number of civilian casualties in the bombing, and suggest the most relevant targets within a given perimeter, as well as calculate the required amount of ammunition. Notably, these algorithms are one of the most destructive and lethal methods of bombing in the 21st century.  

For its part, a journalistic investigation by the Hebrew magazine +972 revealed that in its bombing of Gaza strip, Israel relied on the Havazera system described by Israeli intelligence officers as the "mass assassination factory". It enabled Israel to automatically determine targets to strike gatherings that Israel intends to have Palestinian resistance elements within them.  

While powerful governments around the world watch Israel test artificial intelligence algorithms on Palestinians, the world cannot harbor false hopes that using this technology is for good.  

For its part, Amnesty International condemned the Israeli occupation’s use of cameras with facial recognition technology to scan the faces of those displaced from northern Gaza to southern Gaza in order to maximize eavesdropping and spying.  

This technology activates a temporary exception space at the moment of staring into the camera, where the suspect can be "killed" at that moment. It is a technology that threatens all human rights that Gaza residents have none of.  

So have Israel’s days as the most powerful and intelligent in the region become numbered? Has the moment of difficult truth arrived for decision makers in Tel Aviv?  

It is a question that is difficult to answer, because when it comes to an aspect devoid of humanity, possibilities become difficult. Israel will not care about the political horizons of the war goals. What drives it is revenge, leaving political, economic and military horizons to the American role that will not hesitate for a moment to support murder and killing, paving the way for Israel. Even if its economy deteriorates or its military power recedes, America will say Amen.