A meticulously planned attack by Hamas on Israeli soil over the weekend left many with a gnawing question: How did it happen? Israel, considered to have some of the best intelligence services in the world, failed to learn about the attack ahead of time. Some have speculated that the level of coordination and deception could have only been possible with state support. For many, that left only one candidate: Iran.
Jacob Helberg has been a geopolitical risk forecaster for major American businesses for over a decade, including a stint at Google from 2016 to 2020 battling disinformation and foreign interference. He told Fortune that one thing is clear: “Hamas would have never been able to carry out an attack of this sophistication by land, air, sea, and cyber, in such a coordinated fashion, without Israeli or U.S. intelligence knowing, if this wasn’t completely orchestrated straight out of Tehran.”
