Ex-military intel chief: Lebanon rockets fired by Palestinian groups, not Hezbollah

The former head of the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate Tamir Hayman says that Palestinian terror factions in Lebanon were responsible for the barrage of rockets at northern Israel this afternoon.

“It wasn’t Hezbollah shooting, but it’s hard to believe that Hezbollah didn’t know about it,” Hayman says.

He speculates that the reasons behind the barrage were the clashes between Israeli police and Palestinian worshippers on the Temple Mount over the past two days “as part of the broad identification that was created in the Palestinian/Arab arena for what was perceived as the ‘desecration’ of Al-Aqsa.”

Another factor that led to the rocket fire was Nasrallah’s “false and exaggerated sense of self-confidence that stems from a wrong interpretation of the recent events,” Hayman says, pointing to the failed bombing attempt in Megiddo by a suspect who infiltrated from Lebanon and the maritime deal the previous government struck with Beirut.

“Another supporting factor is the internal situation in Israel,” Hayman says, highlighting the massive public uproar over the government’s judicial overhaul effort.

“As we estimated, our enemy will not take advantage of this for a premeditated attack, but will take advantage of it if there’s a coincidence or an explosive incident like what’s been happening at the Temple Mount,” Hayman says.