Rosenberg spoke about the shock and confusion that many Israelis now feel, wondering how the government could have allowed such an attack to take place.
He compared the Hamas surprise attack to the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, saying, “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Read the full transcript below, lightly edited for clarity.
JOEL ROSENBERG: This is the Pearl Harbor of Israel. We've just experienced our own 9/11.
I've been traveling back and forth to Israel for 35 years. I became a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen nine years ago. And I live here in Jerusalem, as you said, I run ALL ISRAEL NEWS. We're tracking these issues. But I've never seen anything like this. These series of attacks that began yesterday morning at 6:30 local time has left more than 600 Israelis dead, more than 2,000 Israelis wounded. There have been more than 3,500 rocket missile attacks.
But I think what's rattled Israel most is, 'How in the world did the Israeli government, the Israeli military, and the Israeli intelligence network, totally miss this and leave our border with Gaza largely undefended?' Especially on the 50th anniversary of the biggest sneak attack before that, which was the Yom Kippur War.
So, there is deep grief. There's deep anger at Hamas, but there's confusion right now at our Israeli leaders. And we're unifying on the fight. But there's going to be some soul searching and there's going to be some payback at some point later on.
I’m not a big fan of the Biden administration’s policies in the Middle East or worldwide. But I think you’ve got to separate two things: Israel’s responsibility, the Israeli government, military intelligence systems' responsibility to know what’s happening in its backyard. So, this is on Israel, right? And it’s a huge failure. Why? Well, it’s going to take time to find out. I think the broad answer of why we were blindsided is I think the Israeli military system has gotten comfortable with the fact that we keep making peace now with six Arab-Israeli peace treaties. And that sense that things are getting better is true. But it doesn't mean that you can turn your back or close an eye at Hamas terrorists, which are radical Islamist demons. So that's the first thing.
The second thing, though, I would say that while Biden and the Biden administration doesn't have immediate responsibility for our own intelligence failures, but what happened just a few weeks ago, President Biden gave $6 billion to the terrorist regime in Tehran. Right. The Iranian regime. Why? As hostage payments to get some Americans out. All of us who thought that was a mistake said that is going to encourage more terrorism and more hostage taking. Hamas is funded and directed and armed by Iran, and it's impossible to imagine a scenario in which Iran didn't direct this attack, feeling emboldened by the $6 billion they just received from Biden, which was a colossal mistake.
Moments ago, the Israeli government confirmed that more 800 Israeli civilians have been killed by Hamas terrorists since they launched this war at 6:30 on Saturday morning.
At the same time, more than 2,200 Israelis have been wounded, many of them seriously.
Each of these deaths and injuries is absolutely horrific for the individuals affected, and their families and friends.
But the scale of this disaster is having a profound emotional impact on Israeli society as a whole.
Don’t get me wrong: Israelis are resilient – we have been through war and terror for more than 75 years, and by the grace of God we will recover and prevail over our enemies.
But I want to help you understand the magnitude of what we’re facing.
Israel is a small country of just under 10 million people.
And it feels like a small town where everybody knows everybody – not literally, of course, but that’s how it feels.
Lynn and I call it “Mayberry,” after the small TV town that Andy Griffith, Barnie and Opie lived in during the old, black and white, “Andy Griffith Show” whose reruns we watched as kids growing up in the U.S.
Wherever we are in the country, we run into people we know and stop and chat with them.
And when bad news happens in one part of the country, we feel it in every other part of the country.
When we hear of someone dying in an accident or an isolated terror attack, we quickly check to see if we know that person or their community of family and friends.
And we pray for them, and grieve for them, and think, “But for the grace of God, that could have been us.”
It’s different living here than in the United States.
America is a vast, continental country.
America has a population of some 330 million people.
That means the U.S. population is 33 times larger than Israel.
Lynn and I were born and raised in America.
It’s a country we love very deeply, but it is certainly not a small town.
So, an individual death in this city or that – this state or that – is terrible, but it doesn’t necessary affect the rest of the country emotionally.
Saturday, October 7, was Israel’s 9/11.
It was Israel’s Pearl Harbor.
It was an attack so brutal, so bloodly, and so unexpected that the entire nation is in shock.
We are grieving.
And we are angry.
More than 800 Israelis are dead.
More than 2,200 are wounded.
Right now, though, the entire country is on war footing.
We are at war – and the days ahead look very dark, at least for a long stretch.
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