IDF Intelligence commander resigns his post because of Oct. 7 failures

Maj.-Gen. Aharon Haliva, the commander of the IDF Intelligence Directorate, announced his resignation from the position due to the failures that led to the Oct. 7 disaster.

Haliva will end his service in the Israel Defense Forces as soon as the process of finding a successor is complete, the IDF said in a statement on Monday.

In his resignation letter, Haliva wrote: “Now, more than half a year later, alongside the launch of [internal] investigations, I am tendering my resignation.”

”Along with authority comes heavy responsibility,” Haliva wrote to IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi. “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.”

Haliva also called to establish a Commission of Inquiry to “be able to investigate and find out in a thorough, in-depth, comprehensive and precise manner all the factors and circumstances that led to the grave events.”

In the letter, Haliva expressed his appreciation for the actions of the Intelligence soldiers under his command during the war.

In the IDF’s official statement, Halevi thanked Haliva “for his 38 years of service in the IDF, during which he made significant contributions to the security of the State of Israel as both a combat soldier and commander.”

Ten days after the catastrophic Hamas invasion, Haliva had published a statement acknowledging that "the beginning of the war was an intelligence failure.”

“The Military Intelligence Directorate, under my command, failed to warn of the terror attack carried out by Hamas,” he wrote at the time. “We failed in our most important mission, and as the head of the Military Intelligence Directorate, I bear full responsibility for the failure.”

In November, Israeli media reported that Haliva told people close to him that he knew he would have to resign soon.

“Already that morning I understood that it was over,” he said. “After the war is over, I will have to go.”

The IDF, in recent weeks, began the process of investigating its failures during the events of Oct. 7, including its lead-up to and its war conduct since.

The investigation will cover the period from the onset of violent border protests in 2018, incited by the Hamas terrorist organization, to Oct. 10, 2023, when Israel regained full security control over its territory following the Hamas invasion.

The probe will be conducted internally by the commanders of the respective IDF units and is meant as a first step, leading to an external investigation by an inspection committee.