Was October 7th the worst defeat Israel ever suffered ?

On 22 September 2023, 2 weeks prior to the 7 October al-Aqsa Flood attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to the UN General Assembly regarding "a new Middle East." He bragged about Israel's dominance and role as the guarantor of regional security.
He presented a map illustrating a route extending from India to the Persian Gulf, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan, culminating in the Israeli port city of Haifa, and ultimately reaching Europe.
The significant endeavor was named the India-Middle East-Europe Corridor (Imec), a US-backed program aimed at countering the Chinese Belt and Road program (BRI).
For over a decade, the United States has endeavored to realign its worldwide national security strategy to concentrate on its foremost geopolitical problems, including an ascendant China and a reassertive Russia.
In the Middle East, a region crucial to US interests, it has chosen to diminish its military presence and delegate the responsibility of safeguarding its interests and ensuring stability to two of its most reliable allies—Israel and Saudi Arabia.
It is a doctrine akin to the Nixon Doctrine, established in the early 1970s and referred to as the Twin Pillars.
The program aimed to reallocate US forces and delegate the responsibility of safeguarding US security and economic interests in the Middle East to regional states.
Following the Trump administration's facilitation of the Abraham Accords between Israel and various Arab nations during its final year in office, it opted to transition Israel from a non-member ally within the European military command (NATO) to integration within the CentCom framework—the US military command responsible for protecting American interests in the vital region spanning from Egypt to Afghanistan.
The Biden administration ardently adopted this strategy upon assuming office in January 2021. On the day of his inauguration, the new president designated Brett McGurk as the leading official responsible for executing this policy in charge of the Mena region on the US National Security Council.
Since then, McGurk, an ardent pro-Israel advocate with a colonialist mindset, has been actively pursuing a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia, anticipated to be finalized in early 2024.
Through this agreement, Israel aimed to assert its dominance in the region, elevate its standing within the Islamic world, and reinforce its self-image as the regional hegemon. However, the strategy disintegrated following Hamas's attack on 7 October.
The Zionist state and the Biden administration have been steadfast in restoring the perception of the Israeli military's invincibility since the start of the Israeli war in Gaza, which the strike on October 7 significantly compromised.
Consequently, Israeli political and military authorities intentionally initiated a genocidal war to devastate Gaza, rendering it uninhabitable and inflicting severe punishment on its populace, especially women, children, and the elderly.
Despite the immense devastation occurring in Gaza over the past year, which has led to an unparalleled number of Palestinian casualties and destruction not witnessed since the conclusion of the Second World War, Israel has experienced a significant strategic defeat, marked by the deterioration of its military doctrine.
This doctrine comprises various military imperatives upon which the Zionist state has depended for its survival and security since its establishment over seventy years ago.
A fundamental component of Israel's national security doctrine is the principle of "secure borders." Since its establishment, the Israeli regime has persistently worked to establish buffer zones around its borders, aiming to weaken neighboring regimes and align them with Israeli and Western interests.
The invasions of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula by Israel in 1956 and 1967 aimed to establish it as a buffer zone. Although the Egyptian leadership consented to a "peace treaty" with Israel in 1979, the accord essentially transformed Sinai into a buffer zone by restricting Egyptian sovereignty and military presence there.
The Israeli regime similarly occupied Syria's Golan Heights in 1967 and annexed it in 1981, citing the establishment of a buffer zone as justification. In 1982, one year later, Israel invaded Lebanon to establish a buffer zone extending to the Litani River, some 27 kilometers beyond its northern borders.
After 18 years of military occupation, Israel withdrew from its designated security zone of approximately 850 square kilometers in 2000, suffering numerous losses due to intense resistance from the Lebanese group Hezbollah.
Using the same logic, Israel maintains that the Jordan Valley must remain under its control to function as a buffer zone with Jordan.
During his negotiations with Jared Kushner regarding Trump's "deal of the century" in 2020, Netanyahu's insistence on this position resulted in the final plan designating the Jordan Valley as territory that Israel would be permitted to retain.
However, the strikes on 7 October and the ensuing wars on various fronts have revealed that the notion of secure Israeli borders is a myth. Recent advancements in sophisticated military equipment, like long-range rockets, ballistic missiles, and precision drones, have enabled resistance organizations to target strategic locations at will, including deep within Israeli territory.
The Israeli military doctrine is based on 6 principles:
  1. Pre-emptive strikes.
  2. Early warning systems.
  3. Effective deterrence.
  4. Strong defence.
  5. Quick resolution.
  6. Escalation dominance.
Since October 7th, all of these elements have been weakened or diminished.
Throughout its several wars, Israel has depended on initiating attacks against its adversaries by "pre-emptive strikes."
Aside from the 1973 war, Israel has consistently provoked warfare through surprise assaults or invasions, notably in 1948, 1956, 1967, 1982, and 2006, along with the four wars it began in Gaza from 2008 to 2021.
The attacks on 7 October surprised the Zionist state due to their magnitude and far-reaching impact, as Hamas executed a bold raid on numerous Israeli targets, including military installations, the intelligence headquarters monitoring Gaza, and several adjacent colonies.
Within a few hours, the strike incapacitated multiple Israeli military divisions, undermining Israeli public trust in their military and political leadership.
The 2nd component of the Israeli military doctrine relies on its ability to safeguard the nation via advanced early warning systems.
For decades, Israel has taken pride in its exceptional human intelligence networks capable of infiltrating and neutralizing adversaries, alongside its sophisticated technology surveillance systems designed to prevent infiltration and security breaches.
The substantial failure of Israeli intelligence services on 7 October, together with their inability to acknowledge the magnitude of Hamas's tunnel networks, Hezbollah's sophisticated weaponry, or Iran's missile capabilities, indicates a considerable deterioration of this imperative.
The 3rd and arguably the most vital component of the Israeli military doctrine is effective deterrence. Historically, Israel's military strategy has predominantly depended on its ability to deter adversaries from launching attacks due to the fear of a formidable and catastrophic response.
This imperative may somewhat elucidate the ferocity and cruelty that the Zionist authority has exhibited in Gaza following the Hamas attack, in violation of the laws of war and international humanitarian norms.
Nevertheless, despite its ruthless conduct and brutality, no one has been deterred, particularly not the resistance factions in Gaza, who persist in their intense war of attrition.
Israel has not succeeded in fulfilling any of its stated goals in Gaza, including the elimination of resistance factions, the freeing of its captives, or the removal of Hamas. Furthermore, it has been unable to impose any conditions for concluding the war, despite the significant military and political pressure exerted on the resistance groups by Israel, the United States, and other international entities.
Similarly, Israel has not deterred either Hezbollah in Lebanon or the Houthis in Yemen. For the first time in its history, Israel confronts adversarial factions that persist in attacking it, depleting its forces and undermining its capacity to intimidate and instill fear in its enemies, a strategy it has relied upon since its inception.
The 4th component of Israeli military imperatives is strong defense. Since its inception, Israel has portrayed its military as invincible, disciplined, and superior to all its adversaries combined.
This picture was not only accepted by Israeli citizens but is also a perspective held in several countries globally, especially since the United States has progressively supplied the Zionist state with its most sophisticated weaponry and shared highly sensitive intelligence data.
Since 7 October, Israeli citizens have experienced unprecedented vulnerability.
For a year, Israeli authorities evacuated hundreds of thousands of settlers from the north and south and relocated them to the center because they could not return to their colonies.
Indeed, more than half a million Israelis left the country in the past year due to uncertainty and a decline in national security.
In both April and October , following the Israeli assault on its embassy in Syria and later on the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh on Iranian soil, Iran launched two retaliatory offensives, prompting Israel to seek assistance from major nations, including the US, Britain, France, and Jordan, to counter the attacks, which were openly declared and not intended to inflict human or material damage.
In summary, despite Israel's possession of the latest and most advanced military technology from the US and Europe, recent confrontations across multiple fronts have significantly undermined this principle, as Israel can no longer claim its capability to effectively protect its settlers from various threats.
Furthermore, Israel is paying a heavy price in military casualties, which will ultimately undermine its capacity to depict a strong defense or claim the competence of its armed forces. The demand for the conscription of religious students into the military has intensified, while religious communities remain resolute in their refusal to serve in a secular institution.
Former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman has stated that Israel has already suffered the loss of an entire brigade in Gaza, perhaps amounting to between 2,000 and 5,000 soldiers. However, military spokesmen can only publicly acknowledge fewer than 600 fatalities among soldiers. The Defense Ministry reports that this war has disabled over 70,000 Israeli soldiers.
This is a significant figure to sustain within a few months, especially considering that the total cumulative number of incapacitated soldiers in prior conflicts spanning decades was approximately 61,000.
The 5th principle that the Israeli military effectively applied in prior conflicts was a quick resolution.
In all prior wars, Israel has claimed the ability to accomplish its goals within a matter of days or weeks. However, after one year of conducting a horrific genocidal and destructive war, Israel has not succeeded in attaining any of its military or political goals.
This failure has led to significant polarization within the political class and increased demoralization of Israel's military and society.
The 6th and last principle is escalation dominance.
This imperative means that Israel will respond to a significant assault with unrestricted military escalation until its adversaries submit to its demands.
However, Israel is currently facing resolute opposition. Notwithstanding the massive devastation and civilian casualties incurred in Gaza and Lebanon, Israel has been militarily incapable of eradicating or suppressing the resistance in Gaza or Lebanon.
Moreover, when Iran launched numerous ballistic missiles that successfully struck their designated military targets, Israel's response was so underwhelming that it did not respond except with threats.
Likewise, Israel has been unable to address the Houthis' challenge in both the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, seeking assistance from US and British naval forces with little success.
As Israel's military doctrine has been considerably undermined by the ongoing genocidal war in Gaza, numerous regional states that were prepared to delegate the responsibility of maintaining stability in the region and ensuring Israel's effective control will begin to reassess its value and ability to survive, let alone to be the regional hegemon.
Netanyahu and his war cabinet lashed out following the strikes on October 7, seeking an illusive victory.
Nonetheless, their flawed plan and imprudent behavior compromised every aspect of their military doctrine.
They ensured their failure by disregarding Sun Tzu's idiom:

"He who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory."