# The balloon test > **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou. > > Cite as: "The balloon test," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-balloon-test/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *John Kiriakou's argument that Israel had warning of the 7 October 2023 attack — that settlers along the Gaza line had reported training for months, that balloons were sent over as a probe in the days beforehand, and that nothing was done.* - **The official excuse, as Kiriakou states it:** Warnings existed but Smotrich and Ben-Gvir said the attack would come in the West Bank - **First contradiction:** Settlers along the Gaza line reported training under way for months - **Second contradiction:** Balloons sent over Gaza's boundary as a test in the days before the attack - **What followed the test:** Nothing — "still the Israelis did nothing" - **Kiriakou's inference:** "Of course the Israelis knew it was coming" - **The motive he proposes:** To launch a drive for greater Israel - **What he does not claim:** That Israel planned or ordered the attack **The balloon test** is the piece of evidence John Kiriakou puts at the centre of his argument that the Israeli government had advance knowledge of the [7 October 2023 attack](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/october-7-attack). He set it out on the DeProgram programme in August 2025.[1] ## The excuse he is answering Kiriakou frames the argument against an official explanation he considers weak: *"remember this weak-ass excuse that came out from the Israeli government in the days after October the 7th. The excuse was that, well, we knew something was coming, but Smotrich and Ben-Gvir told us it was going to be in the West Bank. We didn't know it was going to come from Gaza."*[1][2] ## The two contradictions His first objection is about who was reporting what. *"We know that's not true because settlers along the line with Gaza were reporting for months that there was training under way."*[2] The second is the balloons. *"And then remember, in the days before October 7th, Hamas sent balloons over as a test — and still the Israelis did nothing."*[2][3] The inference he draws is stated as a certainty: *"So that tells me that of course the Israelis knew it was coming."*[3] ## The motive, and its limit Asked why a government would let such an attack proceed, Kiriakou's answer is territorial: *"Why would they want it to happen? So that they could launch their drive for greater Israel."*[3] He is careful about how far this goes. The host had already drawn the same distinction in his own account of the day — pointing to a response time of seven and a half hours in a country too small for such delays, and to a breached smart fence that produced no arrival — and had put the limit explicitly: *"I don't think they told Hamas to do it. I don't think they planned it, but I think they were like, 'This is going to be our great opportunity.'"*[1] Kiriakou's reply to that framing was *"Ted, I couldn't agree more"*, and his own account adds no claim of Israeli authorship — only of foreknowledge and inaction.[1] ## See also - [October 7 attack](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/october-7-attack) - [Benjamin Netanyahu](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/benjamin-netanyahu) - [Famine in Gaza](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/gaza-famine) - [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) ## Sources 1. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2025-08-12), at 46:42. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE-XS8gvwiM&t=2802s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-08-12-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/ 2. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2025-08-12), at 47:13. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE-XS8gvwiM&t=2833s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-08-12-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/ 3. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2025-08-12), at 47:45. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE-XS8gvwiM&t=2865s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-08-12-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-balloon-test/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt