Shin Bet Chief Orders Removal of Memorial Corner for October 7 Fallen

Shin Bet director David Zini ordered the dismantling of a memorial corner for agency personnel killed since the October 7 massacre, which stood at the entrance to the Shin Bet headquarters in Tel Aviv. According to a report by Josh Breiner in Haaretz, the order was given after the most recent Memorial Day and triggered strong anger inside the service.

Sources familiar with the matter said Zini explained that, “there is no need to see the failure in front of our eyes every day.” One source added that people around Zini described the display as reflecting a “defeatist” spirit, while a security official said the demolition order was met with complete shock at headquarters.

The memorial had been created independently by Shin Bet employees and displayed photos and personal tributes for agency members murdered or killed on October 7 and during the war that followed, including the children of employees who were killed in the fighting. In total, 12 Shin Bet personnel were killed on October 7 and in the months of combat afterward, including at the Nova music festival near Re’im, in fighting inside Kibbutz Kfar Aza at the home of a service employee, and in intense battles with Hamas militants in southern Israel and the Gaza Strip.

The move also contradicted Zini’s own remarks at the service’s headquarters on Memorial Day, when he told bereaved families, “Memorial Day is a national day that calls on us to connect to the root reason for our existence... We promise, we will not let time blunt the sharp image of their faces and the light of their path. We will continue to operate in the shadows to further illuminate the face of the state, we will continue to listen to the inner voice calling on us in their name to stand up again and again for the mission.” In response, the Shin Bet said the October 7 failure was one of Israel’s largest and most painful, but that Zini believes displaying only some of the fallen diminishes the scale of the disaster; it added that the headquarters has a memorial wall showing all of the fallen, not just a select few.