Smotrich assails outgoing IDF intel chief: ‘No admission of mistakes, failures’

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attacks outgoing Military Intelligence chief Aharon Haliva, who announced his resignation on Monday over his part in the failures of October 7.

In a Facebook post, Smotrich says Haliva used “a sea of lofty words, but took zero responsibility.”

“No admission of mistakes, acknowledging of the failure and the reasons for it,” he writes.

He also expresses anger at Haliva for calling for a state commission of inquiry for the October 7 events — the worst single disaster in the country’s history.

“I don’t know if it’s appropriate or inappropriate to form a state commission of inquiry… I do know it’s not the business of a uniformed officer,” he says, going on to attack the “significant and dangerous blurring of the lines between the IDF and the political echelon” and a “condescension” by military officials toward political leaders that “I have encountered since my first day in the government.”

Smotrich also says current IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi “cannot appoint Haliva’s successor” as “he is part of the failure and the responsibility for it.”