I know this may be controversial (and I might loose followers over this), but it needs to be said. I've attended Yom HaZik'aron (the remembrance of the fallen) twice now to commemorate the fallen soldiers and the 4 hundred something hostages (American, muslim, and Israeli) who were murdered in captivity but their body was brought home...
In both times, deep down I am full of rage and sorrow because there were young female conscripts sitting in surveillance bases for hours on the boarders in Israel, looking for signs of anything suspicious. When they did see something: people going back and forth on the boarder between Gaza and Israel as if practicing for something...Their warnings were unheard, and dismissed as hallucinations until Oct 7th came - those conscripts were the first victims out of a dozen surveillance officers to be killed. Other were taken hostage.
And this breaks my heart. In a world were women are girl bosses, directors, C.E.O's and Presidents; somewhere somehow a F*CKING cat has more authority and agency then she does, the girl boss. I think that if the military connected the dots faster and listened to the women conscripts, things would have been different and there could have been more safety measures in place - more preparation. A lesson to be learned and wisdom for the future.
Link to article: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67958260