The head of Israel’s military intelligence resigns over his role in failing to prevent the October 7 attack

The head of Israel’s military intelligence resigned Monday over the failures surrounding Hamas’ unprecedented Oct. 7 attack, the military said. This makes him the first senior figure to resign for his role in the deadliest attack in Israel’s history.

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• Resignation of Major General Aharon Haliva: Major General Aharon Haliva, the head of Israel’s military intelligence, resigned over intelligence failures related to the October 7 Hamas attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,200 civilians and the taking of approximately 250 hostages.
• Impact and consequencesHaliva’s resignation is seen as possibly the first of some of Israel’s top security officials, given the scale and unexpected nature of the attack.
• Ongoing conflictThe attack by Hamas has sparked an ongoing war in Gaza, now in its seventh month, further complicating the situation as Israel also faces tensions with Hezbollah in the north and Iran.
• Political reactions: Israeli opposition leaders have called the dismissal justified and urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to also resign. The call for Netanyahu’s resignation is part of a broader criticism of his security handling and the events leading up to the October 7 attack.
• Humanitarian crisisThe conflict has had a serious impact on Gaza, with significant numbers of casualties and widespread displacement within the region, increasing international concern of a humanitarian disaster.

The Associated Press has the story:

The head of Israel’s military intelligence resigns over his role in failing to prevent the October 7 attack

Newslooks- TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) —

The head of Israel’s military intelligence resigned Monday over the failures surrounding Hamas’ unprecedented Oct. 7 attack, the military said. This makes him the first senior figure to resign for his role in the deadliest attack in Israel’s history.

Major General Aharon Haliva’s resignation could pave the way for more resignations among Israel’s top security officials over the Hamas attack, when militants stormed through Israel’s border defenses, rampaging through Israeli communities unchallenged for hours and killing 1,200 people. most civilians, while taking about 250 hostages to Gaza. That attack marked the start of the war against Hamas in Gaza, now in its seventh month.

“The Intelligence Directorate under my command did not fulfill the task entrusted to us. Since then I have carried that black day with me, day after day, night after night. I will carry the terrible pain of the war with me forever,” Haliva wrote in his resignation letter, which was provided by the army.

It was widely expected that Haliva, like other military and security leaders, would resign in response to the glaring failures leading up to October 7 and the scale of its brutality.

But the timing of the resignation is unclear as Israel continues to battle Hamas in Gaza and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in the north. Tensions with Iran have also risen following the attacks between the two enemies. Some military experts have said that stepping down at a time when Israel is involved on multiple fronts is irresponsible and could be interpreted as a sign of weakness.

Shortly after the attack, Haliva had publicly said he took the blame for failing to prevent the attack as head of the military department responsible for providing intelligence alerts and daily warnings to the government and military.

While Haliva and others have taken the blame for failing to stop the attack, others have stopped doing so abruptly, most notably Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has said he will answer tough questions about his role but will not has bluntly acknowledged direct responsibility for allowing the attack to take place. . He has also not indicated that he will resign, although a growing protest movement is demanding that elections be held soon.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid welcomed the resignation, saying it was “justified and dignified.”

“It would be appropriate if Prime Minister Netanyahu did the same,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

The Hamas attack, which took place on a Jewish holiday, caught Israel and its vaunted security establishment completely off guard. Israelis’ confidence in their military – seen by most Jews as one of the country’s most trusted institutions – was shattered by Hamas’ attack. The resignation could help restore some of that trust.

The attack launched a devastating war that has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the local health ministry. The ministry’s count does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants, but says at least two-thirds of the dead are children and women.

The fighting has devastated Gaza’s two largest cities and prompted 80% of the territory’s population to flee to other parts of the besieged coastal enclave. The war has led to a humanitarian catastrophe that has led to warnings of an impending famine.

The attack also sent shockwaves through the region. Beyond Hezbollah and Iran, tensions have rocked the Israeli-occupied West Bank, as well as cities and towns in Israel itself.

On Monday, Israeli police said a car rammed into pedestrians in Jerusalem, slightly injuring three people. Security camera video showed two men getting out of the car with a gun before fleeing the scene. Police later said they had arrested the two men.

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