High Court clears publication of identity of Gaza Division intelligence officer on Oct. 7

The IDF ended Amidror’s career service over what it said were professional failures surrounding the Hamas massacre.

N12 news site cited an email in which Amidror had described that scenario as “completely imaginary.” After the Unit 8200 noncommissioned officer had raised further concerns in late September 2023, Amidror said a raid was unlikely and scheduled a discussion for after Sukkot, KAN News reported.

Amidror has disputed the case against him, arguing that he entered the Gaza Division role only four months before the attack and had sought to challenge the military’s prevailing assumptions about Hamas.

Amidror is the son of Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser and former head of the IDF Military Intelligence Research Division and IDF Military Colleges.

In Thursday’s ruling, Supreme Court President Isaac Amit said there was no longer a security reason to conceal Amidror’s identity, and that public interest justified publishing it.

Military officers had initially opposed publication under rules protecting the identities of Military Intelligence personnel.

Amidror said the proper authorities had not approved their revised position and that publication would endanger him and violate his privacy.

The state said the head of the IDF Information Security Department had approved the decision, and Amit said he found no reason to question that account.

Amit said the case had raised questions about the relationship between the IDF’s senior command, its internal investigations, its ability to enforce its conclusions, and public confidence in the defense establishment.

The October 7 massacre was a “traumatic event of biblical proportions,” he said, adding that the public interest extended to the identity of an officer whom the IDF was seeking to remove over an alleged professional failure.

Amidror’s identity had already been circulated widely online, Amit said. The case was similar to that of Brig.-Gen. Yossi Sariel, who was publicly identified as the commander of Unit 8200 before leaving military service, and there was no meaningful reason to treat the two officers differently, he said.

The appeal challenged a September 7 decision by the Tel Aviv District Court, sitting as an Administrative Affairs Court, to remove the publication ban. Amit dismissed the appeal and ruled that Amidror’s name and identifying details could be published immediately.

The ruling concerned only whether Amidror’s identity could be published. It did not determine whether he mishandled warnings before October 7, 2023, or rule on the merits of the IDF’s decision to end his career service.

The head of IDF Manpower Directorate, Maj.-Gen. Dado Bar Kalifa, had decided to terminate Amidror’s commitment to career service, the IDF announced on September 17. It said Amidror could appeal the decision.

Amidror had asked the High Court to delay publication until his expected release from the IDF around December if the decision to end his service became final, the court said.

An IDF investigative team headed by Maj.-Gen. (res.) Sami Turgeman found that the Gaza Division had failed to maintain sustained intelligence and operational work on the “Jericho Wall” plan, conduct an orderly situational assessment, and raise the warning level in response to the information available on the night before the attack.