In his retirement speech on Wednesday following his resignation in April as head of the Military Intelligence Directorate, Maj.-Gen. Aharon Haliva said, “On October 7, that bitter day that I carry with me on my conscience and on my shoulders, and will carry with me until my last days, we did not uphold the sanctity of our oath. I chose to dedicate my entire adult life to the security of the State of Israel. I have always done my utmost as a soldier and as a commander to serve the country with devotion.”
Haliva will be replaced by Maj.-Gen. Shlomi Binder, who was most recently head of the operations division. An appointment that has been met with criticism from families of October 7 victims who claim that his part in the October 7 failure has not been sufficiently investigated.
At the ceremony, Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said, “If we have experienced successes over many years and then failed, it means that through a true investigation, we will be able to distinguish between success and failure and learn how to act to reduce the chances of failures in the future. Correction is a vital condition for the existence of our country.”
Halevi also characterized Binder as the right person to take over the position.