Former IDF Intelligence Chief's Recordings Show Who Took the Blame and Who Has No Shame Over October 7
IDF military intelligence chief Aharon Haliva, who retired over the October 7 failure, points fingers at himself and a long list of figures in recordings released to the media, which mainly highlight how Netanyahu and his government have yet to take any sort of responsibility
Maj. Gen. (res.) Aharon Haliva, who was the head of the Military Intelligence Directorate at the time of the October 7 massacre, gave an interview on Friday night on Channel 12 TV, without actually being interviewed.
The TV channel miraculously obtained long recordings of conversations Haliva has held over the last few months. Anyone who had ever heard the former intelligence chief before was not surprised. It was the same Haliva, open, direct, outspoken, supposedly not accountable to anyone. But the unusual format allowed him to control the content. He didn't answer anything he didn't want to address.
Haliva has been described before as someone with a big mouth, but only on a very small number of occasions was he not in control of the message he wished to deliver. It's hard to believe that the words he uttered simply escaped him at such a critical moment.
One can assume that the publication of his words will not evoke a wave of public sympathy for the general, who did assume responsibility for his part in the fiasco by retiring a year ago. The systemic failure was too big, and people are still angry at Haliva, and justifiably so. He is neither a hero nor a martyr. His character – self-confident, single-minded, often inattentive to other opinions – was a contributing factor in the disaster.
At the highest echelons of Military Intelligence, says a person who served in one of its top positions, there was for years an environment of "narcissistic peacocks." It didn't start with Haliva, and did not end when he retired, despite the sincere efforts of some members of the current leadership.
And yet, there is a great measure of logic in the main claim made by Haliva in these recordings: military intelligence, as well as the entire Israel Defense Forces, are not the only parties at fault for what transpired.
When looking for explanations and responsibility for the biggest calamity in the country's history, there are four fault lines along which blame can be apportioned: the intelligence failure vs. the operational failure within the IDF; Military Intelligence vs. the Shin Bet security service; decision making on that fateful night in contrast to the conception held in the years preceding it, and the responsibility of professional echelons vs. the overarching responsibility of the political ones.
Where you stand depends on where you sit, say Americans. And Haliva, while taking responsibility, also cast it on everyone but himself: the chain of operational command, from the IDF's General Staff to its Southern Command, and from there to the IDF's Gaza Division, the Shin Bet, the years in which that conception held sway, and, obviously, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The prime minister knew the dangers emanating from Gaza for years but minimized their importance, not taking action even when warned repeatedly in the months preceding the terror attack. He led a policy of "divide and rule" with regard to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, deliberately weakening the Palestinian Authority while empowering Hamas.
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https://archive.md/F6g7G#selection-1031.0-1055.345