Retired General Blames Political Leadership for October 7 Failures

Retired Major General Nitzan Alon, formerly the head of the Hostages and Missing Persons Directorate, has criticized the Israeli government's actions before and after the October 7th attacks, stating that the tragedy was a result of numerous errors by the country's political leadership. Speaking at an online discussion hosted by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Alon asserted that the political echelon determined Israel's overall policy towards Hamas and the situation in Gaza.

Alon argued that the political leadership bears responsibility for the overarching strategy concerning Hamas in Gaza. He believes that all available intelligence, combined with information from observers and signals received on the night of the attack, should have been treated as a genuine warning, necessitating immediate action. "This is the essence of the failure, both at the intelligence and military levels," Alon stated, according to Ynet.

This assessment follows previous reports regarding warnings Israel received prior to October 7th. An investigation revealed that Egypt had conveyed a warning to Israel shortly before the attacks, though it lacked specific details such as the date, location, or precise nature of the impending assault, making it difficult to directly link to the attack that occurred 11 days later. It remains unclear who in Israel received this warning.

Additionally, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant previously disclosed that Israel had received warnings in the weeks leading up to the October 7th attack. He mentioned that the Shin Bet received a message from Hamas, in which the group's then-leader Yahya Sinwar expressed an intention to "shake up the prisons."