Outgoing IDF intel chief Haliva says he failed to warn of Oct. 7, urges state probe
Incoming head of Military Intelligence Directorate, Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder, calls for focusing efforts on ‘urgent’ mission of returning hostages
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, in his last speech as head of the Military Intelligence Directorate, said Wednesday that he was responsible for not providing a warning ahead of Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught.
In his resignation speech, he hinted that he expected other officers to also take responsibility for their failures, and called for a state commission of inquiry into the failures that led to the war
“On that Saturday we did not fulfill the most important mission which we are tasked with, providing a warning for war,” he said during a handover ceremony at the Glilot Base near the central city of Herzliya, which houses some of the directorate’s units.
“The responsibility for the failures of the Military Intelligence Directorate is on me,” Haliva said.
Haliva in April said he would be quitting the Israel Defense Forces over his involvement in the failures that led to the Hamas-led October 7 attack. Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder, the former commander of the IDF’s Operations Division, is replacing him.
“The responsibility and setting a personal example is a core value of the IDF, and in leadership in general. Taking responsibility is not words, it must be actions. My decision to end my role and resign from the IDF is the norm in which I was educated… it is what is expected of those marching forward and those charging at the front,” he said.
Haliva also called for establishing a state commission of inquiry into “all aspects that led to war, so that what happened to us will not happen ever again.”
Repeated calls for an independent review of October 7 have been rebuffed by government leaders, who apparently feared they could be criticized, insisting that investigations must wait until after the end of the war against Hamas.
The incoming chief of the Military Intelligence Directorate, Binder, said during the ceremony that Israel must dedicate its intelligence efforts to returning the hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, while readying for an escalation with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“We are in the midst of a just war, a hard and long [war], that may expand, and we will continue efforts to achieve its goals. We must dedicate our efforts to returning 109 hostages in the Gaza Strip. It is a national mission, ethical, of utmost importance, and urgent,” he said.
“We must continue to increase our readiness for the campaign expanding in the north, and build a good intelligence [picture] for defense and attack, and for more distant arenas, as this directorate has proved recently,” Binder continued.
Alongside fighting and preparing for escalation, Binder said the Intelligence Directorate would also need to investigate itself, make amends and improve from its mistakes.
“Where we failed, we will need to investigate and improve; where we made mistakes we will learn and change; where fractures were opened, however big they are, we will insist on fixing and repent,” he said.
“The Israeli people have no other country, the State of Israel doesn’t have another IDF, and the IDF doesn’t have another Intelligence Directorate,” Binder added.
Binder’s appointment to the role has been seen as controversial, as he previously served as head of the Operations Division under the Operations Directorate — and may have been involved in failures related to October 7.
Haliva is the first senior officer in the IDF to resign over the October 7 attack. (Another top intelligence general who was planning to step down over the onslaught quit after being diagnosed with cancer.)
In June, Brig. Gen. Avi Rosenfeld, the head of the Gaza Division, announced his resignation over the October 7 attack. He is due to be replaced in the coming weeks by Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram, the former head of the 99th Division.
Other top defense officials have said they bear responsibility for the deadly invasion carried out by Hamas on October 7, including the head of the Shin Bet security agency and the IDF chief of staff. None of them have announced plans to resign yet, though many are expected to do so once the security situation stabilizes.
However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and most members of his government have repeatedly refused to take responsibility for their part in the series of strategic and operational failures that led to the Hamas onslaught, insisting that the matter of their responsibility only be dealt with after the war.
Some 3,000 Hamas-led terrorists burst from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel on October 7, carrying out a murderous rampage of unprecedented intensity and breadth. The IDF struggled to mount a response, with bases closest to the border overrun and the chain of command seemingly broken amid the chaos.
The onslaught claimed the lives of some 1,200 people in Israel, with another 251 people kidnapped and much of the area devastated. Most victims were civilians.
