Israeli Military Intelligence Chief Resigns Citing Failures Leading Up to Oct. 7 Attack

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These two are key promulgators of the Old Conception, so as they pass into an overdue retirement, it becomes key that their replacements be of a very different mindset.

Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva is the first high-ranking Israeli defense official to resign over Hamas’ massacre. ‘I will forever carry with me the terrible burden of the war,’ he wrote in his resignation letter

Amos Harel and Yaniv Kubovich, Haaretz April 22,2024

Israel’s head of military intelligence, Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, announced his resignation on Monday, six months after Hamas’ surprise attack on October 7.

Haliva is the first of the military and security agencies’ high command to resign in light of the failures which led to the deaths of 1,200 Israelis during Hamas’ massacre in southern Israel.

In a letter announcing his retirement, Haliva said that “the Intelligence Division did not live up to the task” it was entrusted with, adding, “throughout my duties, I knew that alongside authority comes heavy responsibility,” Haliva said.

He also called for the establishment of a state investigative committee to “investigate and find out in a thorough, in-depth, comprehensive and precise manner all the factors and circumstances” that resulted in the October 7 attack.

Haliva planned to tender his resignation earlier, but withheld his announcement due to the sudden retirement of the head of Military Intelligence’s research division, Brig. Gen. Amit Saar, after he was diagnosed with a malignant tumor requiring immediate treatment. Tensions with Iran over the past weeks also factored into his decision to delay the announcement.

“I carry with me that same dark day ever since,” he wrote. “I will forever carry with me the terrible burden of the war.” He added that until a replacement is found, he intends to continue doing everything “for the sake of defeating Hamas and returning all the hostages, captives, and missing persons” to Israel.

Early in April, Haliva told the heads of research departments responsible for the various fronts on which Israel is fighting that “It is not certain that the worst is behind us. There are complex days ahead.” His words came against the backdrop of a curfew placed on soldiers in anticipation of an Iranian response to the assassination of a senior Revolutionary Guards member in Damascus, sparking public alarm. Later that day, IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Daniel Hagari reassured the public that “there is no change in directives, and there is no need to buy generators, store food, or withdraw cash.”

While speaking at an intelligence-officers graduation in January, Haliva said that high-quality and extensive intelligence provided by the military intelligence branch “saves the lives of soldiers risking their lives on the ground every day, enabling us to hit our enemies over a wide area, ranging from Gaza to Iran.”

Haliva turned to the new officers and called on them to “always voice your professional opinion. Always, everywhere, addressing any rank or echelon. Even if it’s a different opinion, a critical and not a standard one. So it has been in military intelligence up to now, and so it will continue to be,” he said.

Haliva took public responsibility for the intelligence failure that led to the Hamas’ massacre a week after the event, writing then that the military intelligence “failed under my command to warn of the terrorist attack carried out by Hamas.” He added that it did not fulfill its “most important mission,” and that as the head of intelligence, he bears “full responsibility for the failure.”