Amos Malka, former head of Israeli military intelligence, discussed the failures that led to the attack on October 7, blaming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and high-ranking officials for their significant responsibility in this incident. Malka stated in comments reported by the Jerusalem Post that the failure to prevent the attack stemmed from the obsession of the defense establishment and political leaders with the threat of tunnels being built by Hamas, the difficulty in relaying intelligence reports to senior officials, and the impact of the judicial reform plan on the strength of the military institution.
The attack on October 7 occurred when Hamas militants breached the border into Israel by land, air, and sea, killing about 1,200 people and taking 253 hostages under the cover of rockets fired at Israeli towns and cities. The army responded with air and ground operations in the Gaza Strip, resulting in thousands of casualties. The Hamas health ministry announced on Tuesday that the death toll in the Strip has risen to 32,916 since the start of the war.
Malka mentioned that Netanyahu informed a Knesset committee in 2017 about Hamas's plan to penetrate Israeli territory using tunnel warfare, accusing Netanyahu of being fixated on the issue of tunnels while ignoring other means through which the movement could threaten Israel, including a "ground invasion." The senior former official noted that both the Israeli military and political establishment were convinced that one of the reasons Hamas constructed cross-border offensive tunnels was due to the movement, designated as terrorist by several nations, completely abandoning the idea of carrying out operations above ground.
He also pointed out that much of the important intelligence gathered by lower-ranking observers and intelligence officers was never passed on to the Israeli army or senior political decision-makers, meaning that high leaders such as the chief of staff and Netanyahu were unaware of these warnings. Furthermore, he highlighted warnings to Netanyahu that Israel's enemies, from Iran to Hezbollah to Hamas, viewed the Israeli army as having become weaker due to the battles over judicial reform and the threats from reserve soldiers to withdraw from service.
