IDF Intelligence Chief to Step Down Over Hamas Invasion Failures
“The Intelligence Directorate under my command did not fulfill its task. I have carried that black day with me ever since, every day, every night. I will forever bear the terrible pain of the war.”
Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, chief of the Israel Defense Forces’s Military Intelligence Directorate, announced he would step down over failures to stop the Hamas invasion failures on October 7.
On October 17, Haliva said he bore “full responsibility” for the IDF not warning “of the terror attack carried out by Hamas.”
Haliva is the first senior IDF officer to resign over the terrorist attack.
From The Times of Israel:
“Now, more than half a year later, alongside the launch of [internal] investigations, I am tendering my resignation,” Haliva wrote in a letter publicized Monday.
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In his resignation letter addressed to Halevi (Hebrew link), Haliva wrote that “along with authority comes heavy responsibility.”
“The Intelligence Directorate under my command did not fulfill its task. I have carried that black day with me ever since, every day, every night. I will forever bear the terrible pain of the war,” he said in the letter to the IDF chief of staff.
Haliva said he supports the establishment of a commission of inquiry to “be able to investigate and find out in a thorough, in-depth, comprehensive and precise manner all the factors and circumstances that led to the grave events.”
“Everything I did during my service in the IDF was for the sake of the people of Israel and the State of Israel,” he added.
A Channel 12 report revealed the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate held a discussion three months before October 7: One officer, only identified as Brig. Gen. Peh, said: “We have tried but have not succeeded; we cannot say how [Hamas’s Gaza chief Yahya] Sinwar will act, and therefore commanders in the field should take the necessary precautions.”
In coordination with the Chief of the General Staff, the Head of the Intelligence Directorate, MG Aharon Haliva, has requested to end his position, following his leadership responsibility as the Head of the Intelligence Directorate for the events of October 7.
The Chief of the…
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) April 22, 2024
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid used Haliva’s announcement to demand Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step down:
“‘Along with authority comes heavy responsibility.'” The retirement of the head of Amn is justified and honorable. It would have been appropriate for Prime Minister Netanyahu to do the same.”
״לצד הסמכות מונחת אחריות כבדה״. פרישת ראש אמ״ן מוצדקת ומכובדת. ראוי היה שראש הממשלה נתניהו יעשה כמוהו.
— יאיר לפיד – Yair Lapid (@yairlapid) April 22, 2024
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Comments
In the USA they get promoted to candidate for President (Hillary/Libya) or President (Biden).
Civilian leadership gets promoted. Military officers get cashiered. In the immediate aftermath of Pearl Harbor, two flag officers – Gen. Short & Adm Kimmel – were relieved, pursuant to the Roberts Commission, an ad hoc investigative panel chaired by Justice Roberts that didn’t look any further than Short & Kimmel because to do otherwise would have been politically inexpedient. In reality, every one – from FDR to the lowest swabbie at Pearl failed to properly prepare for an attack that should have been foreseen And yet, no one else was disciplined and FDR was, of course, overwhelmingly reelected in 1944.
These days we have senior military that literally engage in treason and suffer no consequences. I’m talking about that fat treasonous cu*t Mark Milley who gloated about his calls to our enemies the ChiComms to undermine our POTUS. I seem to remember reading about the punishment for treason… somebody remind me.
“terror attack carried out by Israel”
You mean by Hamas.
Pretty serious error there….worth a fix.
Fixed, thanks.
Maj. Gen. Haliva is an honorable man. Tragic mistake on the part of IDF intelligence, and he takes responsibility for it as he should.
The failure was in noticing hightened activity. It may not have been possible to infiltrate the fanatic Hamas or the Iranian masterminds organization behind this. It is becoming evident that October 7 was the first step in a carefully planned and definately well funded operation. The savagery of October 7 was immediately followed by pro-Palestinian demonstrations across the western world, and those demonstrations are becoming increasingly savage in tghe US. I’m thinking the purpose is to sever the US connection to Israel, leaving the Jewish state isolated and vulnerable.
American Jews have ignored the growing pro-Palestine movcement on US campuses for at least a decade. They rejected the importance of the Abraham Accords. They prefer to be on the left. They never imagined that they themselves would become targets of their political allies. Talk about a failure of judgment.
Now do the Afghanistan exit.
Sorry. Different people, different ethic, different country.
It breaks my heart that America has forgotten its honor and its competence. The greatest generation would be appalled.
This reminds me of quote from Musashi, from the Cleary translation AIR: “Speed is not the essence of strategy; timing is the essence of strategy.”
Interpreting the security guy’s doings generously, this feels something like deciding immediately to pull the final trigger on himself at the right time: “I have to resign over this. Build the replacement, so my stepping out doesn’t make more of a problem.” One hopes this guy had at least one wise, perceptive boss, to help navigate these steps.
It seems to me, as a total outsider, that all of Israel relaxed its security after decades of peace. How is it that households so close to Gaza did not have weapons for self-defense? They trusted their security to a special group. That worked in the kibbutz that became suspicious and took up defensive stations before they were attacked, but, as far as I know, that only happened at one kibbutz. The others were easy pickings. It was a holiday. It took time for forces outside the kibbutz to congregate, be issued weapons, and then get there. By the time outside Israeli forces showed up, Hamas and their hostages were gone. The kibbutz that were attacked were caught completely flat footed. Except one.
This is a fall guy for a government that had become complacent with a shift in political winds.
Sounds a lot like the US.
The US is full of politicians who “take responsibility” and then proceed to conduct business as usual. My mind also goes to Janet Reno, who “took full responsibility” for conducting what was at that time the largest mass murder on US soil… and then continued on to a nice, fat retirement pension without even a slap on the hand.
…My mind ALWAYS goes to…
If Reno actually took responsibility, she would have faced criminal jeopardy. As it happened, it took the death of innocents in Oklahoma City for the Feds to experience reproachment and, at least temporarily, back off with the heavy fist. Their blood is also partially on her hands.
An honourable man, such a shame, hope he succeeds in later life.