IDF intelligence chief freezes planned appointment for Gaza Division intelligence officer who held role in run-up to Oct. 7
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The chief of the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate, Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder, has frozen a planned appointment for the outgoing intelligence officer of the Gaza Division, who was in the role on and before the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught.
The move comes after Army Radio reported this morning that the Gaza Division intelligence officer, Lt. Col. “Aleph,” was appointed to a role in the Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 9900, which specializes in VISINT, or visual intelligence.
The IDF in a statement says Binder decided to freeze the intelligence officer’s “temporary posting,” and the matter will be discussed after the military’s investigations into October 7 are completed.
Defense Minister Israel Katz, meanwhile, takes credit for the move, saying he ordered the IDF to cancel the appointment of the intelligence officer “who ignored the warnings of the surveillance soldiers on the eve of October 7.”
“The defense minister also reminds the IDF chief of staff of his directive to avoid any appointment of those who were involved in the events of October 7, and to finish the IDF’s investigations by the end of this month… so that the families and public can be updated, and in order to draw the necessary conclusions, including on the issue of appointments in the IDF,” Katz’s office adds.