Israeli intel chief resigns over resounding October 7 failure

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Israeli media
22 Apr 2024 11:49
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Mired in failure, the Israeli Military Directorate has seen multiple officials resign or axed after failing to intercept the Palestinian Resistance operation on October 7.

Head of the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate, Major General Aharon Haliva, speaks at a conference for the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT), seen a screengrab from a video uploaded on December 1, 2022. (ICT/YouTube)

The head of the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate, Aman, Major General Aharon Haliva, has submitted his resignation to the Office of the Israeli Chief of Staff, accepting responsibility for the Israeli military's failure on October 7, 2023.

According to the Israeli news website Walla!, Haliva is expected to leave his position in the coming weeks and will be likely replaced by Lieutenant Colonel Shlomi Binder. Aman has been subject to a series of harrowing controversies and internal discord, stemming from the organization's failure to expect and warn against the Palestinian Resistance's Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, which took place on the dawn of October 7 last year.

Later, Israeli occupation forces confirmed that Haliva had submitted his resignation.

"Major General Aharon Haliva, in coordination with the chief of the general staff, has requested to end his position, following his leadership responsibility as the head of the intelligence directorate for the events of October 7," the occupation's military said in a statement.

"It was decided that MG Aharon Haliva will end his position and retire from the IDF, once his successor is appointed in an orderly and professional process," the statement added.

Previously, the military intelligence body was considered to be a leader in the field of intel gathering and analysis, providing Israeli occupation forces with the necessary information to carry out their operations.

In the letter Haliva submitted on Monday to Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, the top intelligence official detailed the reasons for his expected resignation. Walla! says that Haliva submitted his resignation after his subordinate, head of the Research Division, Brigadier General Amit Saar resigned, citing his cancer illness.

All top officials should admit that they failed

"The time has come for the generals of the General Staff who are related to the October 7 failure to accept responsibility for their part. Among them: the head of the Strategy Division, Major General Eliezer Toledano, the head of the Operations Division, Major General Oded Basiuk, the coordinator of government operations in the territories Major General Rasan Alian, commander of (Unit) 8200 Brigadier General Y, and the head of the Operations Brigade Brigadier General Shlomi Binder, who is nominated for the position of head of the Aman despite criticism of him," Haliva told the Chief of Staff in a closed conversation.

Just a week after October 7, Haliva admitted that the body he headed failed and that he bore full responsibility for the events of the day.

"In all my visits to Military Intelligence Directorate units in the last 11 days, I sat down and stressed that the beginning of the war was an intelligence failure," he explained.

"The Military Intelligence Directorate, under my command, failed to warn of the terror attack carried out by Hamas," he added.

"We failed in our most important mission, and as the head of the Military Intelligence Directorate, I bear full responsibility for the failure," Haliva stressed.