The head of the army’s intelligence service has tendered his resignation in a letter, in a move that was expected after the events of October 7, but which again brings to the fore the responsibilities that have not been assumed by the Netanyahu.
The general Aharon Haliva, head of the Israeli military’s Shin Bet Intelligence Service, tendered his resignation yesterday morning. Haliva, in his resignation letter to the IDF chief, Halevi, emphasizes that he never hid behind his responsibilities and emphasizes that his resignation today is in the hands of his country. It is clear that Haliva has significant responsibilities for what was done or better not done by the army before “Black Saturday” and the bloodshed of 7her October, but he is also the first to finally officially step down from a system which has led to the complete disorganization of both the Israeli army and the country’s secret services since 2021.
Foreign body
Haliva had become from the beginning of the crisis the recipient of intense criticism not only from military circles but also from politicians as he is one of the few military men who has been openly and publicly attacked by Benjamin Netanyahu for the fiasco that led Israel to one of the worst moments of its modern history. Haliva had taken his share of responsibility from the beginning but even that was not enough for the government as for more than two months – especially Netanyahu’s far-right partners and especially Ben Gvir – turned against the general at every opportunity. This situation, as noted yesterday by analysts inside Israel, seems to have been exacerbated mainly by the fact that a large part of the general’s family is still participating in the mass weekly demonstrations that today demand Netanyahu’s resignation and the return of the hostages, but before the 7the October they demanded his resignation for handling the issue of changing the competences of the Supreme Court. Netanyahu believed that Haliva was clearly a foreign body and had attempted to remove him at least twice before the disaster became a reality.
The question that arises and is relatively easy to answer is whether Haliva is the only one responsible for what happened on the 7the October. The answer is clearly “no”, but those who know the situation in the army and in the secret services from 2021 emphasize that his responsibilities are large and critical. Sources from the army charge him with the absolute inability to “read” but above all to evaluate critical elements especially on the night of 6her October, when top military officials also ruled that there is absolutely no threat from Hamas and the Gaza Strip. A few hours after this military council thousands of Hamas members were entering Israeli territory from not one but 60 different points.
What the resignation means for Netanyahu
Why, then, did Netanyahu not proceed to decapitate Haliva earlier? The answer to this question is relatively easy for Israel’s opposition circles, but not only. Netanyahu does not want to bring the issue of accountability back to the fore today, and he does not want it because he is the only one who has not officially assumed the enormous burden that is assigned to him. If he does, he will have to resign and he himself is anything but that oriented. Haliva’s resignation yesterday is even a problem for Netanyahu because now he has no choice but to speed up the procedures for the resignations of the rest of those involved.
Haliva’s resignation significantly reduces the time that Netanyahu believed he had secured for the management of the internal crisis, significantly. In this he had made sure to increase the tension in early April with a strike against an Iranian target in Damascus that brought Tehran to the center of today’s crisis. The management of the issue on the part of the USA today deprives it of vertical escalation and the sanctions against units of the Israeli army send the message that the road will soon end. It is in these crises though that one should not underestimate Netanyahu’s political acumen…those who have done so in the last six months have paid and exposed themselves.
