Israel confronts terror engineered through stolen knowledge while Arab regimes ignore the extremist monster they enabled.
A stunning new investigation has revealed how Hamas terrorists managed to disable advanced Merkava Mark 4 tanks along the Gaza border by exploiting a secret shutdown mechanism known exclusively to Israeli armored crews. The revelation, made by journalist Doron Kadosh on IDF Radio, exposes a chilling intelligence operation built quietly over years of data collection, manipulation, and exploitation.
Immediately after the attack, Israeli commanders questioned how Hamas could have discovered such sensitive information. The answer surfaced during IDF operations in early 2024 inside the massive Hamas tunnel complex known as “The Pentagon.”
The Finding: A Long-Term, Organized Intelligence Operation
Recovered documents showed that Hamas had systematically assembled a comprehensive dossier on Merkava tanks—built not through espionage by foreign regimes, but through reckless exposure of information online by Israeli soldiers.
Hamas analysts spent years:
- Tracking tens of thousands of soldiers on social media
- Analysing photos, videos, and instructional clips
- Reviewing footage filmed at outposts, training bases, and the Shizafon tank school
- Extracting interior layouts, procedural steps, and technical vulnerabilities
Much of this material was considered harmless when posted—routine videos, selfies, or training clips. Yet Hamas used them to build a full, accurate intelligence map of the Merkava Mark 4’s systems.
Hamas Trained a “Tank Corps” to Exploit Israeli Vulnerabilities
Based on this trove, Hamas developed a professional training program for its elite Nukhba fighters. The scale was staggering:
- Full-size wooden and metal replica Merkava tanks
- Advanced simulators mimicking real Israeli armored controls
- Crew training courses where terrorists practiced as if they were actual IDF tank teams
The ultimate goal was even more disturbing:
To seize Israeli tanks during the October 7 assault and drive them into Gaza to use against the IDF.
That plan failed—but the disabling of tanks using the secret mechanism meant several Merkava units were knocked out of the fight at critical moments.
A Broader Intelligence Breach Exposed
Beyond the tanks, evidence recovered from dead and captured terrorists showed Hamas possessed:
- Internal gate codes to IDF outposts
- Security barrier weak-points
- Critical technical details of multiple IDF systems
This was not luck.
It was the direct result of a systemic failure in digital operational security—the inadvertent leaking of military secrets through social-media postings in an era where terror groups harvest every pixel.
The Hard Lesson
Hamas did not gain its battlefield edge from genius or capability but through years of exploiting open, undisciplined online behavior from soldiers who never imagined their posts could endanger national security.
Once again, Israel faces a truth the Arab world refuses to confront:
The Palestinian factions built their war machine not for liberation, but for precision terror, weaponized against the very state that protects democratic freedoms—including the free, open digital culture they learned to exploit.
Israel has begun tightening information-security rules, but the cost of complacency on October 7 remains a tragic warning:
In the digital age, every post is intelligence, and every mistake becomes a weapon in the hands of terrorists.
