Israel’s Smotrich slams outgoing military intelligence chief over Oct. 7 attack

JERUSALEM

Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Wednesday attacked outgoing Military Intelligence chief Aharon Haliva over his failure to predict the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.

Haliva announced his resignation on Monday over the failures surrounding the Hamas attack, which Israel said killed nearly 1,200 people.

In a statement on his X account, Smotrich considered Haliva’s resignation as "an opportunity for real change to correct the structure" of the Israeli army's command.

The far-right minister said the outgoing military intelligence chief used “a sea of lofty words, but took zero responsibility.”

“No admission of mistakes, acknowledging of the failure and the reasons for it,” he added.

Smotrich also opened fire on Army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi.

He “cannot appoint Haliva’s successor” as “he is part of the failure and the responsibility for it,” he added.

Israel has waged a sweeping offensive on the Gaza Strip since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, killing more than 34,20 Palestinians and injuring 77,200 others amid mass destruction and severe shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement as acute shortages of food plunge Gaza into famine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara