Shin Bet chief orders removal of Oct. 7 memorial display, sparking criticism

Shin Bet chief David Zini ordered the removal of a memorial display for service members killed on Oct. 7 that had been set up at the entrance to the agency’s headquarters in Tel Aviv, according to a report first published by Haaretz. The decision drew criticism because the display had honored fallen personnel from the Hamas attack that day.

Haaretz said the reason given for taking down the installation was that “you do not need to see the failure in front of your eyes every day” and that the exhibit “reflects defeatism.”

In response, the Shin Bet said the Oct. 7 failure was “one of the biggest and most painful failures Israel has known,” but argued that showing only part of the fallen “diminishes the failure and reflects only part of the terrible disaster that befell us.” The agency added that its headquarters already has a memorial wall displaying all of the fallen, not just a small selection.

The dispute centers on how the agency should commemorate its dead from Oct. 7 while also presenting the scale of the wider failure. The memorial display had been located at the entrance to the service’s Tel Aviv headquarters.