Head of 8200 Intelligence Unit resigns

The commander of the IDF’s elite 8200 unit, Brig. Gen. Yossi Sariel, has informed of his resignation over failures to prevent October 7th in a letter he wrote Thursday to those under his command. Unit 8200, the IDF’s main signals intelligence unit, is among the units that have been pointed to over failures to prevent October 7th.

An IDF officer its alongside other military personnel at a ceremony.

Sariel wrote that “on October 7 at 6:29 a.m. I did not fulfill my mission as I expected of myself, as my commanders and subordinates expected of me, and as the citizens of the nation I love so much expected of me.” His move comes almost a year after the Hamas attack on Israel happened. As several reports over the past 11 months showed warning signs of a Hamas attack, they went ignored. Less than 3 weeks before the attack, a dossier was put together by Unit 8200 indicating concerns of a Hamas attack, but they were ignored by senior Israeli officials.

The commander of Unit 8200 isn’t generally publicly known, but Sariel’s identity was leaked in a Guardian report in April. Other senior security have stepped down from their roles in recent months since the attack, including Brig. Gen. Avi Rosenfeld, former head of the IDF’s Gaza division, but most of the senior IDF leadership remains the same.