29/09/2009 “Hezbollah had better intelligence information than Israel and better control of its forces during the Second Lebanon War,” according to an official Israeli military scorecard compiled recently by a top navy officer.
The article - which was given an award by Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi - was written by Lt.-Col. Robi Sandman, and was published in the latest edition of Ma'arahot, a monthly journal on military issues.

During his research for the article, titled "How the Arabs are preparing for the next war," Sandman asked 24 senior Israeli occupation officers to grade the occupation army and Hezbollah in 10 categories, on a scale of 1 to 10.

While the Israeli military enjoys superior technology, the scorecard revealed that the army performed poorly in gathering intelligence on Hezbollah, did not command its troops effectively during the month long war and lacked motivation to win.

In intelligence, Hezbollah received a 7 and the Israeli occupation forces a 6; in military doctrine and strategy Hezbollah received a 9 and the Israeli military a 5; In technology, the Israeli occupation received a 9 and Hezbollah a 5; in training and organization, Hezbollah received a 8 and Israel 7, and in tactical command Hezbollah received a 8 and the Israeli military a 6.

The 24 officers also ruled that Hezbollah had greater motivation to win than the Israeli army. Hezbollah received a score of 8 in the motivation category, while the Israeli military scored only 4.

In the article, Sandman claims the Israeli army is currently structured in a way that it will not be able to prevent thousands of resistance fighters - from Hezbollah or Syria - from infiltrating deep into the Palestinian occupied territories.

The next war, he wrote, will likely include Hezbollah sending hundreds of teams comprised of 4-5 fighters each, armed with anti-tank missiles and sniper rifles, into the “Galilee”. "We need to recognize that the Israeli army with its current structure cannot provide a response to the unbelievably well-equipped force that is rising up to destroy the State of Israel," he wrote.

“These hundreds of squads will be able to rely on local Israeli-Arab infrastructure in the Galilee”, Sandman wrote. He recommended that the Israeli army immediately establish small, elite reconnaissance squads capable of countering this “threat”.

Sandman also warned of the possibility that in a future conflict, the United States might not help Israel as it had in the past. During the 2006 war and the Yom Kippur War in 1973, the US airlifted advanced weapons and ammunition to Israel to refresh dwindling stockpiles, JPost said.

Sandman warned of two main catalysts for a possible lack of support. The first was what he called the decreasing influence the Jewish community had over the US government. "This trend will continue to get worse, due to assimilation and the fast rise of other minorities such as the Hispanics, which amount to 30 million [people] today in the US," he wrote. The second was a possible change in government and subsequent policy that "could leave Israel without an ally."

As a result, Sandman recommended that the Israeli army ask the US to establish additional warehouses with emergency stockpiles of weaponry in Israel, even "if Israel has to pay for their maintenance."

The US already has several warehouses with weaponry in Israel. His second recommendation was that Israel and the US hold joint training exercises to prepare for the possibility that the Israeli occupation army will one day be under “threat” and require American troop support. "This type of support will be important one day in an emergency, but could also serve as a deterrent for enemies when planning an attack," he wrote.

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