Chief of IDF intelligence Aharon Haliva will end his role on the upcoming Wednesday and will be replaced by Major General Shlomi Binder.
The IDF emphasized that Haliva's role will end "in accordance with an operational assessment." The publication comes after a approximately two-week delay due to the strike in Beirut in which senior Hezbollah member Fuad Shukr was assassinated.
Last April, Haliva announced his resignation, stating that he is taking responsibility for his part in the October 7th failures. "The Intelligence Department under my command did not fulfill the mission we were entrusted with. I carry that dark day with me since then, day by day, night by night. I will forever carry with me the tremendous pain of the war," he wrote.
In the resignation letter he submitted to the Chief of Staff, Haliva wrote that "With the start of the war, I expressed to you my desire to take responsibility and end my service. Now, six months later, and alongside the commencement of the investigations, I request to end my role and retire from the IDF, upon the completion of the investigation phase and after the appointment of an Intelligence Chief who will lead the excellent people in the division in the coming years, while conducting a structured learning and handover process."
Meanwhile, approximately two weeks ago, the Supreme Court rejected the petition filed by parents who lost their children in the war against the appointment of Binder.
The judges wrote that "It is certainly understandable to empathize with those who lost their most precious loved ones, and are angered by the promotion and appointment of someone they see as partially responsible, to a high-ranking and influential position crucial to the security of the state. Additionally, under different circumstances, it might have been reasonable to assume, as the petitioners do, that the promotion and appointment to a senior position in the IDF for someone who held a senior position prior to and during the events of October 7, should be made only after the completion of the investigation into this matter."
They added, "However, despite understanding the petitioners' feelings, this does not justify our intervention in the decision to appoint Binder as Intel igence Chief." The judges further said, "Moreover, since the decision to appoint Binder was made by the authorized entities (the Chief of Staff and the Defense Minister), there was no legal obligation to present it before the government, particularly given that the appointment requires the approval of the Defense Minister, who is the government official responsible for the IDF."