Ex-IDF Chief: Oct. 7 Attack Was Preventable, No Betrayal Involved

Former IDF Chief of Staff Hertzi Halevi stated that the October 7th attack was a preventable failure, strongly rejecting any notion of betrayal within Israeli security structures. Speaking at a conference in New York hosted by the Israeli human rights organization Shurat HaDin on November 1st, Halevi urged political leadership to publicly and unequivocally deny any internal betrayal. He asserted he knows the precise details of how the catastrophe unfolded and dismissed the idea that any colleague, after decades of risking their lives, would aid Hamas, emphasizing that such an attack would require an extensive network, none of which was ever discovered.

Halevi called for Israel to conduct thorough investigations and ask difficult questions, similar to the army's internal inquiries, to learn lessons and help society heal. "We need to look failure in the eye to be able to fix it," he said. He referenced the image of Shiri Bibas with her children, highlighting the failure as the absence of military support to help and save her in time.

The former chief of staff explained that Israel's miscalculation of Hamas's intentions stemmed from prioritizing Iran, then Hezbollah, and only then Hamas as the main threats. Israel was unaware of Hamas's preparations for an attack of such magnitude. He noted that the IDF, Shin Bet, and political leadership believed Hamas did not want war but rather sought to demonstrate its capacity to manage Gaza's population to potentially control Judea and Samaria. Hamas, he added, worked hard to foster this perception.

Halevi described Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar's goal as achieving surprise and simultaneous attacks across all border points with Gaza immediately after 6:29 AM. Sinwar was also confident Israel would not launch a ground operation due to Gaza's complex terrain. Halevi acknowledged Israel contributed to this perception but also mentioned that by midday on October 7th, Israel warned Hezbollah against any actions, threatening severe retaliation against Lebanon.

Regarding the possibility of "complete victory," Halevi did not answer directly but stated that the military spent considerable time convincing political leadership to initiate a ground operation in Gaza, moving away from smaller, air-strike-only operations. He claimed that without significant military pressure within the Strip, hostage retrieval would have been impossible, a point he is prepared to prove. Halevi admitted that Israeli bombs unintentionally killed hostages whose presence was unknown to the military, and that the army was rapidly improving methods to accurately locate abducted individuals.

The conference on combating antisemitism, now in its third year at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York, is led by Shurat HaDin President Nitsana Darshan-Leitner. It includes dozens of pro-Israel organizations, Jewish opinion leaders, bloggers, foreign policy experts, and international lawyers. Darshan-Leitner stated that the fight for Israel and the Jewish people has expanded beyond the battlefield, with antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment fueled by significant funding and amplified by AI, social media, and international legal systems. She called for a united offensive strategy involving lawyers, diplomats, researchers, and tech specialists to impose a high cost on those seeking to deny Israelis their right to live safely.