"35,000 Iranian-Backed Fighters Planned Coordinated Invasion of Israel"

At an education conference hosted by the "Noam-Tzvia" school network, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich disclosed previously unknown details about what he called a “complete blindness” in Israel’s intelligence assessment of the Iranian threat.

In front of hundreds of educators, Smotrich described how Israeli analysts had underestimated the capabilities of the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen, assuming they were armed only for regional warfare against Saudi Arabia.

“We didn’t know they were building long-range missiles underground, capable of reaching 2,000 kilometers and threatening Israel directly,” he said.

Smotrich linked the Houthi threat to a larger plan he referred to as the “Qassem Soleimani strategy”, a conventional military encirclement of Israel that included:

Despite acknowledging what he called “a catastrophic intelligence failure,” Smotrich also described the current war as having exposed Iran’s genocidal plan early enough to prevent a greater disaster. “From a divine perspective, there is tremendous salvation here,” he said.

In a rare personal moment, Smotrich also admitted he considered resigning in the aftermath of October 7, feeling moral responsibility for the breach. “I called my father and told him, ‘I’m leaving.’ But he strengthened me."