April 22, 2024 (EIRNS)—The Chief of Intelligence of the Israel Defense Forces, Maj. Gen Aharon Haliva, has submitted his resignation, after taking responsibility for the failures to prevent the October 7 Hamas attack. He will stay in office until a replacement is named. He had already taken responsibility for the failure back in October, but did not resign because of the ongoing Gaza war.
“Now, more than half a year later, alongside the launch of [internal] investigations, I am tendering my resignation,” Haliva wrote in a statement made public.
“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 his letter to the IDF chief of staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi.
Haliva’s resignation comes ahead of an internal investigation on the failures that led to the Oct. 7 attack, which is expected to be presented to Chief of Staff Halevi by the beginning of June.
Media have raised the question as to how many resignations will follow, in the military and security establishment. But the big question in every Israeli’s mind is, when will Prime Minister Benjamin Netaynahu take responsibility and also resign? Another important question, raised by military sources, is whether the next chief of military intelligence will be a competent officer, or a Netanyahu “yes man?”
