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Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar takes responsibility for not detecting the first Hamas attacks

The head of Israel's intelligence service assured that investigations will be carried out, but the priority now is combat.

Ronen Bar, director del servicio de inteligencia israelí, Shin Bet.

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Published by
Alejandro Baños

Ronen Bar, the director of Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service, took responsibility for not detecting and issuing a warning in time regarding the first attacks carried out by the Hamas terrorist group on Oct. 7.

"Despite a series of actions we carried out, unfortunately on Saturday we were unable to generate a sufficient warning that would allow the attack to be thwarted," Bar wrote in a letter sent to the agency and reported by The Times of Israel. "As the one who heads the organization, the responsibility for this is mine."

Bar added that, for the moment, Shin Bet is focusing its efforts on the fight against terrorists, so investigations will begin when the conflict ends:

There will be time for investigations. Now we are fighting. ... We are in a war, not a round [of fighting]. A round you win with a victory image and silence; a war ends with a decisive victory and a change of situation. There is no border limit, no time limit. Till the very end.

The Israeli government also takes responsibility

Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich stated in a press conference that the government "has failed" to defend the Israelis:

I take responsibility for what was and what will be. We have to admit with pain and with a bowed head — we failed. The country’s leadership and the security system have failed in maintaining the security of our residents. The massacre was the most  horrifying we have known in Israel — such unimaginable cruelty that the world has not seen since the Holocaust.

Smotrich confirmed that he has given orders for budgets to be reallocated based on Israel's priorities and the war.

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