‘We failed,’ admits outgoing IDF intel chief, as successor warns of Iranian threat on Israel’s borders

“On that Shabbat, we failed in the most important task we are entrusted with – warning before a war,” said Maj.-Gen. Aharon Haliva, outgoing commander of the IDF’s Intelligence Directorate (Aman), in his last speech on Wednesday.

He spoke at the handover ceremony marking the transition from Haliva, who presided over the intelligence failures in the lead-up and during the Hamas invasion and terror attack on Oct. 7, to Maj.-Gen. Shlomi Binder, who was commanding the IDF Operations Directorate at the time.

“The huge responsibility for the failure of Aman rests with me. Accepting responsibility is taught in actions and not in words,” said Haliva, who was the first of the IDF’s top brass to resign his post due to the Oct. 7 failures.

“On October 7, Simchat Torah, that bad and black day that I carry in my heart, according to my conscience we did not live up to the sanctity of our oath,” he said.

“The ultimate responsibility for the failure of the Intelligence Division rests on my shoulders. My decision to end my duties and retire from the IDF is the norm on which I was raised and on which I raised and nurtured many generations of fighters and commanders and is what is expected of those who lead from the front,” Haliva noted.

He also called for the creation of a state commission to investigate the events leading up to Oct. 7, with the aim of “finding, in a thorough and deep way, the set of reasons that led to the war, and to do everything so that what happened to us does not happen again.”

Binder, Israel's new chief of the IDF's Intelligence Directorate, used his speech to warn against what he sees as the central threat to the Jewish state: Iran.

The danger posed by the regime “is not just nuclear,” he stressed. “Iran is here on the borders and this is how it should be treated in practice, not just in statements. They threaten us directly and constantly.”

Pointing to Iranian weapons being used by Israel’s enemies across the region, he said that Israel “should not be interested in how much time passes, or how many kilometers a missile travels, and whether it leaves Tehran or Beirut or Gaza – because in the end, it is Iranian.”

“We must constantly examine the reality around us,” Israel’s new intelligence chief said in an apparent nod to his new unit’s recent failures.

“Listen closely: change, be changed. Know how to be bold, ask questions, and also to listen. Allow each and every one to express an opinion and consider it seriously.”

Binder’s selection was not without controversy, as the Operations Directorate under his command was criticized for the IDF’s lack of a quick and effective response during the Hamas invasion.

Defending his choice, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi told Binder: “I examined your actions on October 7, lengthwise and crosswise, and found them to have been carried out in wisdom and responsibility, integrity and self-examination.”

“We chose you because Aman always needs a very suitable commander and today even more than ever. We chose you because you are the right person for this challenging and important position for the State of Israel,” Halevi emphasized.