I was stunned by the early morning headline that appeared in my email. According to The New York Times, Israeli officials had known about Hamas’ plan for more than a year before it launched its Oct. 7 attacks.

This could not be true. The Israel that I have come to know over the past 22 years is a beacon of vigilance, with a hard-bitten approach to threat protection that it has learned through decades of painful experience. And it has generously shared its expertise with our professionals in New York and around the world.

Yet in this case instead of acting, Israeli military and intelligence dismissed this startling revelation as “aspirational.” In New York City, we call this “talking away the job,” and it is a sure sign that a healthy complacency has taken hold.

Complacency comes in a variety of forms — misplaced hope, denial, faith, fatalism — but the results are always the same. It leaves you flat-footed in the face of fast-moving threats. It breeds failure in the form of misery and destruction. It prevents you........

© The Korea Times