Hamas's October 7 Attack: Analysis of an “Antagonistic” Crisis

ABSTRACT The aim of the article is to interpret the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023 in light of crisis management theories, seeking to draw from this event some general lessons about the nature of crises, their determinants, and how they are managed. More specifically, the article addresses three questions: (1) Why did Israel underestimate the warning signs and fail to prevent the attack? (2) What decision‐making logic did the Israeli government adopt in responding to the attack? (3) What kind of crisis is the one being analyzed? In the article, it is proposed to adopt the category of “antagonistic crises,” that is of crises that are caused by human beings, who act intentionally with the stated goal of getting the other party into trouble. The logic of appropriateness is used to interpret the response to the attack by the Netanyahu government.