Brig. Gen. Yossi Sariel, the commanding officer of Unit 8200, the IDF's most prestigious intelligence unit, has notified the IDF Chief of Staff and Intelligence Directorate Chief Shlomi Binder of his decision to leave the military due to his part in the failures that led to the October 7th massacre.
Sariel is the second senior IDF intelligence official to step down in light of the failures, following former Intelligence Directorate Chief Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva.
He commanded the unit for three years and his name was revealed in an article in a British newspaper, in contrast to his predecessors who remained anonymous.
The defense establishment has recently criticized Unit 8200 and claimed its eagerness to use technology came at the expense of human intelligence leading to a mistaken notion and the failures that led to the murderous Hamas attack.
Sariel wrote in his resignation letter: "On October 7th, at 06:29, we did not perform as I expected of myself, as my subordinates and commanders expected, and as the citizens of the country that I so love expected of me."
He added: "Personally, I failed by not adequately understanding the need, and therefore I didn't adequately reflect the need, that in the special reality on the Gaza border, we as a system are held to a different risk management which stems from the small margin of error that in the region.
"I did not point out that there are, in fact, two Nukhba commando divisions on the Gaza border, minutes away from Israeli communities. And with enemies that constantly meet the might of the Israeli intelligence and internalize it, you can not rely on SIGINT deterrence for operational preparedness, and certainly not build on the fact that at the H-Hour we would manage to get the 'golden intelligence' report. 8200's responsibility for its part in the intelligence and operational failure is all on me."
He asked to apologize for his part in the failure: "I know that I worked with the utmost awe and despite this, I am deeply sorry. Sorry that I did not perform the task as you expected of me and as I demanded of myself. I know and pain that I can't fix what was done. I bow my head."