Now Israel's military intelligence chief has stood down after saying
that he takes full responsibility for the lapse in security
on October the 7th.
Let's get more on this breaking news story with Bernard
Smith.
He's occupied E Jerusalem so militarily the heads have started
to roll.
So yes, Aaron Haleva is the head of military intelligence
decades of experience as and was in charge on October
7th when Hamas launched that assault into Israel.
The most devastating assault of Israel
has
that has happened in Israel since the country's foundation in
1948. Now we now know that since then
the reason that was allowed to happen was largely because
of a spectacular failure of military intelligence.
We now know that for up to a year before
the Hamas attack on October the 7th,
the Israeli intelligence had had a hands on a document
that pretty much detailed how October the 7th would pan
out.
We know that spotters, the Israeli military spotters in the
towers around Gaza,
have been reporting for months that they'd seen activity in
Gaza that look like
Hamas and other fighting groups were rehearsing,
preparing for some sort of attack on Israel.
All of that was ignored.
It was all ignored because there was a belief we
now understand,
right at the top of military intelligence and conveyed and
held by the Israeli government,
that Hamas did not want or was not in the
market for looking to attack Israel.
It was more interested in governing Gaza.
Well, we now know that that was not the case
and Aaron Khalifa is the first.
Well, he accepted responsibility, I think about a week or
so after October the 7th,
but has stayed in post during the war in Gaza.
He's going to stay in post now,
in fact, until a replacement has been found.
But he is the most senior leader to resign.
He's called in his resignation for a National Commission of
inquiry to be established into what led up to October
7th to highlight and expose the failures.
The government has yet to do that.
The government says it wants to concentrate on the war
in Gaza,
but many accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are deliberately prolonging
that war because he also does not want to face
up to any responsibility he might have for.
I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot more of this
in the coming hours.
For the moment, Bernard, thank you.
Major General Aaron Haliva is the first senior Israeli figure
to quit following the Hamas attack.
Well, let's bring in Omar Shaw.
He's been following events with us here from the Doha
Institute for Graduate Studies.
Interesting departure at the top of the Israeli military brass.
Quite interesting. Yeah, it's somebody had to take the fall
for 7th of October.
I think it's quite high level in terms of the
the top of the military intelligence,
although they the the issue was was more of the
intelligence cycle because they had the information,
they had the they saw
the preparations. The these preparations were reported by junior
intelligence analysts, but it was not,
did not reach the top brass because it's it was
thought that it's not significant enough.
And what they're seeing maybe Hamas is willing to do
something like that,
but it's incapable of doing so.
So it was an underestimation of the capabilities of the
Qasem battalions in terms of the sort of prism in
which we view Israel and how it likes to be
viewed by the international community.
It's under quite some pressure,
really. Now we're hearing of this military
general being removed or resigning,
but also a battalion also being sanctioned by the US.
There is pressure and a little bit more pressure.
Yeah, absolutely. But the the that battalion,
particularly the 90 sevens battalion of the field brigade,
of the nine hundreds brigade,
it is sort of a
rogue battalion in a semi rogue brigade.
It's not the first time
it was accused of beating
a Palestinian American citizen who after that
died after a heart attack,
which made which this was in January
2022. So the US was sustaining pressure since then and
demanded that
some sanctions get applied to this
discipline, get applied to this
battalion particularly. And the Israeli response was,
was that we're going to deploy this battalion,
this infantry battalion from the West Bank
to the Golan Heights. So put them under the Northern
Command.
It was done on paper,
but we're not sure if that actually happened.
They stayed in the West Bank and after the 7th
of October they were deployed in Gaza
and apparently there, there are some,
quite a few violations that were recorded there as well.
So that increased the pressure
to do something about about this battalion.
In terms of the overall viewing of the Israeli military
at the moment,
whether it be the West Bank or Gaza,
do you think the spotlight is
more on them now, not just by the United States,
but by by the EU,
for example? I mean, if
America's going to put some sanctions
on this particular battalion, normally the EU follows suits as
well.
Oh, absolutely. After all this,
this level of destruction, this levels of multiple allegations against
crime
for for crimes against humanity,
that that level of force concentration,
firepower concentration in areas that are civilian areas widely populated
with
with the women, children, elderly.
After all this. So you'll probably have some significant political
pressures on the on the Israeli government.
But historically, the Israeli government has been quite defined in
resisting such pressures and
acting according to their plans,
which does not include the
human rights reservation of the Palestinians.
For sure. We should see what happens in the coming
hours.
For the moment, Omar Shaw,
thank you.