Who has taken responsibility for the debacle?
In the 11 days since the October 7 Hamas massacre in Israel, some public figures – in government and among security services – have said they take responsibility for any failures that allowed the attack to take place. Others have not.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi criticized the public outcry for the government to apologize and take responsibility in an interview with Army Radio on Tuesday.
“I’m hearing [people say] ‘apologize, take responsibility’,” he said. “For what? What’s the point of saying these things during a war? Of course there’s the responsibility of the leadership. Of course there will be an investigation into the last detail, but until there has been an investigation, I cannot tell you who is responsible.”
He later apologized for the way he spoke, reiterating that he didn’t think this needed to be discussed until after the war.
Other politicians openly took responsibility for the attack like Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar.
“We failed in protecting the area around Gaza,” he told N12. “We apologize. We are responsible.”
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich also said the government had failed in the first line of defense to protect citizens and that “our job now is to hold the second line of defense and show that we are still deserving and that the trust in the country and all its systems is maintained.”
Education Minister Yoav Kisch also said that the government bears responsibility as well as those who made the decision for Israel to disengage from Gaza.
Throughout Israel’s defense system, officials have also been taking responsibility.
“The IDF is responsible for the safety of the country and its citizens, and on Saturday, near Gaza, we didn’t succeed,” said IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi last week on Thursday.
He went on to commit to improve in the future and “return the security” to Israel.
Ronen Bar, who heads the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) wrote in a letter Sunday, “Despite a series of actions, unfortunately, on Saturday, we couldn’t generate a sufficient warning that would have enabled the attack to be thwarted.” He sent the letter to the agency’s employees and their families. “As the person standing at the head of the organization, the responsibility is on me.”
The head of Israel’s Intelligence Directorate echoed a similar sentiment.
“We failed at our most important task, and as the Intelligence Directorate chief, I bear full responsibility for the failure,” said Maj.-Gen. Aharon Haliva.
Meanwhile, National Unity leader Benny Gantz spoke at the funeral of Sha’ar Hanegev Council head Ofir Libstein on Wednesday.
“I’m here despite the difficulty and the pain, to apologize to you all,” he said. “I’m sorry we couldn’t save you. I’m sorry that we couldn’t look after you. I’m sorry we couldn’t save Ofir, that we couldn’t save all of them.”