Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, Israel’s military intelligence chief, at a command bunker in Tel Aviv, on May 20, 2021. It has been obvious to Israelis since the opening hours of the Oct. 7 attack that the assault was the result, at… (Dan Balilty / The New York Times)
Seattle Times/New York Times: Intelligence Errors Prompt Scrutiny of Israeli Generals, but Little Backlash
JERUSALEM — Israel’s military leadership faced heightened public scrutiny this past week after a string of damaging revelations in the Israeli media and The New York Times suggested that senior officers had ignored or dismissed intelligence reports about the likelihood of a major Hamas attack.
According to those reports, the Israeli military obtained a copy of a battle plan that Hamas ultimately used during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel, but officers wrongly judged that Hamas would be unable to carry it out. A commander also dismissed a subordinate’s warning in July that the group was running drills and building the capacity to set the plan in motion.
The news raised expectations among political commentators that, after the war ends, senior military and security chiefs will either resign or be fired over the intelligence failures.
Supporters of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seized upon the reports, using the allegations of military failure to deflect from accusations that Netanyahu was partly to blame for what many Israelis consider the country’s worst security failure in 50 years.
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WNU Editor: Here is an easy prediction. No one in Israel is going to be held accountable for the October 7 intelligence failure until after the war is over …. US and Israeli officials react to blockbuster report that Israel knew Hamas was planning attack (ABC News).