The internal security service assumed on Tuesday (5) the responsibility for not paying due attention to warning signs about the attack of Hamas before the devastating offensive of October 7, 2023. However, the agency also blamed the Israeli government for policies that, according to the report, allowed Hamas to accumulate weapons, raise funds and gain silently support, among other faults.
Shin Bet’s conclusions, as the security agency is known, were published days after a similar inquiry carried out by the Israeli army, which concluded that Hamas high -patent officers underestimated Hamas and misinterpreted the first signs that a major attack was to come.
The report released on Tuesday brought only one disqualified summary, leaving an unknown amount of information confidential. However, even this summary has already exposed serious failures from the agency.
According to the document, plans for a Hamas attack south of Israel reached the hands of intelligence agents in 2018 and again in 2022, but the agency did not consider this information as a significant threat. As a result, Shin Bet did not include this possibility in future confrontation scenarios with the militant group.
Although Shin Bet stated that he took Hamas seriously, he acknowledged that he did not respond properly to the first evidence of an imminent attack, nor to the later signs that a massacre was about to occur.
The Israeli authorities decided to disclose the results of the report, even if they keep parts classified, due to the severity of the attack. On October 7, about 1,200 people were killed and approximately 250 hostages, starting the war in the Gaza Strip.
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Netanyahu government resistance to independent investigations
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has resisted an independent investigation into the events that led to the deadliest day in Israel’s history. Instead, it allowed each security institution in the country to conduct its own analysis, despite the public pressure by an inquiry committee.
During a debate in the Israeli Parliament on Monday (4), Netanyahu said he supports the creation of a committee to investigate the Hamas attack, but suggested that such an inquiry would inevitably produce biased conclusions against him.
“I don’t introduce me with manufactured investigations and political hunt,” said Netanyahu. “I will continue to insist on the truth. I will continue to require a balanced inquiry committee that reaches the truth. ”
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Netanyahu’s resistance to an investigation and requests for renunciation contrasts with the posture of other Israeli leaders.
General Herzi Halevi, head of the Armed Staff, who will leave office this month, took responsibility for what he called “terrible failure” by not preventing the attack. Shin Bet’s boss, Ronen Bar, told Israeli media on Tuesday that he does not intend to resign until all Israeli hostages are repatriated, but admitted that the attack could have been avoided.
Criticism of government policies
The Shin Bet report also pointed to coordination flaws with the army and defining a clear chain of command. “This is not the pattern we expected from ourselves, nor what the public expects from us,” the agency said.
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Unlike the recent military report, the Shin Bet document directly pointed out government policies as factors that contributed to the attack. According to the agency, the government allowed Hamas to accumulate weapons and raise money for its military wing through Qatar financing. In addition, he mentioned the government’s reluctance to take offensive initiatives such as Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip.
The report also cited the treatment of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention centers and the “perception that Israeli society was weakened.” Before the attack, Netanyahu had advanced with a judiciary reform plan, which triggered protests across the country. Many Israelis blame Netanyahu for the attack of Hamas, arguing that internal instability encouraged the militants.
The conclusions of Shin Bet echo a report from The New York Times Published weeks after the attack, based on interviews with Israeli, Arab, European and American authorities, as well as the analysis of documents from the Israeli government.
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Netanyahu’s office declined a comment on Shin Bet’s findings. However, according to the Israeli media, the government issued an informal statement to a restricted group of local journalists, attributed to the “internal circle of the prime minister.” The document states that the intelligence report presented an “investigation that does not answer any question” and is not up to the “magnitude of the huge failure of the organization.”
Netanyahu’s office also highlighted a series of intelligence agents’ flaws, including an assessment presented a few days before the attack that “categorically affirmed” that Hamas did not want to start an offensive against Israel. In addition, he criticized Shin Bet’s boss, Ronen Bar.
“Shin Bet’s boss did not consider waking up the prime minister on the night of the attack-the most basic and obvious decision to imagine,” said Netanyahu’s office.
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