The intelligence officer from the Gaza Division who, prior to the October 7th massacre dismissed the possibility of a large-scale Hamas incursion into Israeli border communities as “an entirely imaginary scenario,” has returned to active service in the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate, journalist Doron Kadosh reported.
According to the report, the officer currently serves as head of a sector at the headquarters of the Chief Intelligence Officer. While his new position is considered non-operational and peripheral to core intelligence activity, he reportedly reports to intelligence bases several times a week and continues to receive a salary.
IDF investigations - including the internal probe and the external “investigation of investigations” led by Maj. Gen. (res.) Sami Turgeman - found that the officer ignored multiple warnings from the counterintelligence officer who repeatedly cautioned that Hamas was preparing an assault on the border. In written responses at the time, the officer described such an event as “an entirely imaginary scenario” and dismissed Hamas’s drills as “for the sake of appearances and a display of intent.”
Maj. Gen. Turgeman strongly criticized the officer’s conduct, noting that he chose to postpone a discussion of the warnings “until after the holidays,” despite the intelligence at his disposal.
In January, it was revealed that the officer had been reassigned to Unit 9900, but following public outrage and intervention by the Defense Minister and the IDF Chief of Staff, the appointment was revoked. Despite that, the new report indicates that he has since been reinstated in a different position.
Sources familiar with the matter said the officer “refuses to go home. Many people tried to show him the way out, and he does not agree - he wants to remain in the army.”
An IDF spokesperson confirmed the report’s details.