Intel. chief in retirement speech: I will have Oct. 7 on my conscience for rest of my life

Israel’s outgoing head of military intelligence took responsibility for his country’s failures to defend its border on Oct. 7 at his resignation ceremony on Wednesday.

Major General Aharon Haliva, a 38-year veteran of the military, announced his resignation in April and was one of a number of senior Israeli commanders who said they had failed to foresee and prevent the deadliest attack in Israel’s history.

“The failure of the intelligence corps was my fault,” Haliva said at the ceremony on Wednesday, and he called for a national investigation to study and “understand deeply” the reasons that led to the war between Israel and Hamas.

“On October 7, that bitter day that I carry with me on my conscience and on my shoulders, and will carry with me until my last days, we did not uphold the sanctity of our oath. I chose to dedicate my entire adult life to the security of the State of Israel. I have always done my utmost as a soldier and as a commander to serve the country with devotion.”

Haliva will be replaced by Maj.-Gen. Shlomi Binder, who was most recently head of the operations division. This appointment has been met with criticism from families of October 7 victims who claim that his part in the October 7 failure has not been sufficiently investigated.

Halevi's speech at the ceremony

At the ceremony, Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said, “If we have experienced successes over many years and then failed, it means that through a true investigation, we will be able to distinguish between success and failure and learn how to act to reduce the chances of failures in the future. Correction is a vital condition for the existence of our country.”

Halevi also said Binder is the right person to take over the position.

The IDF stated Binder's response to his new position, in which he said that the country  "must constantly examine the reality around us. Listen, change, adapt. Know how to be bold, ask questions, and also listen."

"Where we have failed, we will investigate and improve; where there were mistakes, we will learn and change; where gaps have opened, no matter how large, we will insist on fixing and mending - we will do so with the intention of rebuilding trust," Binder added. 

The Oct. 7 attack badly tarnished the reputation of the Israeli military and intelligence services, previously seen as all but unbeatable by armed Palestinian groups such as Hamas.

In the early hours of the morning of Oct. 7, following an intense rocket barrage, thousands of fighters from Hamas and other groups broke through security barriers around Gaza, surprising Israeli forces and rampaging through communities in southern Israel.

Some 1,200 Israelis and foreigners were killed in the attack, most of them civilians, and about 250 were taken into captivity in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Some 109 hostages are believed to still be in Gaza, around a third of whom are thought to be dead.

The head of the armed forces, Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi, and the head of the domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, both accepted responsibility in the aftermath of the attack but have stayed on while the war in Gaza has continued.