WEST BANK (Dispatches) – The Civilian Board of Inquiry, which has been investigating evidence of intelligence failures around the Palestinian resistance’s infiltration of the occupied territories on October 7, 2023, said the Zionist regime and security establishment “failed to protect civilians”, concluding that prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is primarily responsible for undermining decision-making forums and advancing policies that led to the historic failure.
The committee said it has interviewed 120 witnesses and concluded that Netanyahu is mainly responsible for the “concept” that money could buy quiet in Gaza and silenced any “dissenting voices” which criticized this idea.
According to the committee’s findings, Netanyahu encouraged Qatar to send millions of dollars to Gaza every month to “maintain quiet”.
“In light of the testimonies and findings, it can be conclusively determined that the regime in general, and the prime minister in particular, did not prepare or plan adequately not only for the disaster of Oct. 7 but also for other disaster scenarios,” the committee said
“Furthermore, he is significantly responsible for the division within the nation (…) which had an impact on the resilience of Israeli society.”
“The foremost sin was arrogance, which blinded regime leaders and security officials from confronting reality,” according to an NBC News translation from Hebrew.
The board, which is not connected to the regime and cannot officially compel it to act, is made up of former members of the judiciary, military, civil service and relatives of Oct. 7 captives.
NBC News has approached Netanyahu’s office for comment but did not receive a response.
Some 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken captive during the attacks as Hamas fighters infiltrated the occupied territories from southern Gaza and launched thousands of rockets. The incident, described as the worst operation against the Zionist regime since occupation of Palestinian lands, profoundly shook Israeli society and damaged a sense of security built over years.
The war that followed the operation has killed more than 44,000 people in Gaza — most of them women and children — according to local officials, driven much of the population of the enclave to the brink of famine and destroyed many of its buildings.
The Israeli report also identified a “major cause” of the Oct. 7 tragedy as a “glaring failure” by Israeli intelligence branches.
It specifically pointed to Shin Bet, the regime’s domestic spy agency, and military intelligence for their inability to provide timely warnings or act on those that were issued.
Israel’s spy agencies appeared blindsided by the attack, despite having long been introduced as “some of the most capable in the world,” with an array of human intelligence, eavesdropping and other technical means covering the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Benny Gantz, a former war minister and key rival of Netanyahu’s who quit the regime’s war cabinet in June, echoed Shin Bet’s calls for an official inquiry, which he said “must be established without delay.”
The report also criticized the regime’s former war minister, Yoav Gallant, for “reducing troop presence near Gaza, the lack of preparedness of southern forces, and ignoring multiple warning signs.”