"I am trying to run away from this thought, I don't know what happened there"

Deputy Minister Almog Cohen addressed in an interview with the new C14 web program, "On the way to the ballot box with Dana Varon", the conduct of the security establishment in the hours leading up to the October 7 massacre. Cohen claimed that to this day he finds it difficult to find a satisfactory explanation for the fact that the intelligence information received during the night did not lead to a different deployment of our forces on the ground. He pointed to the hours preceding the attack as a subject that continues to anger him particularly, and wondered what would have happened if the system had acted differently.

During the conversation, Cohen was asked directly if he thinks there was treason that night.

"Listen, I've been trying to run away from this for a very, very long time, but I can't," the Deputy Minister replied candidly.

However, he clarified that he does not have conclusive proof of this and added that it is possible that someone simply closed their eyes, as he has no other explanation for the conduct. Cohen, who previously served in tactical units, explained that from his professional experience, receiving even the smallest piece of information should lead to immediate alertness of all systems.

Cohen continued and wondered why the reports about the preparations of Hamas terrorists in the tunnels were not passed on throughout the night, and emphasized that the lack of response raises extremely difficult questions. Later in the interview, the Deputy Minister addressed the public controversy surrounding the establishment of a state commission of inquiry and expressed firm opposition to the move. According to him, the fact that the senior security officials at the time, Aharon Haliva, Herzi Halevi, and Ronen Bar, support the establishment of the commission proves that it should not be established, as they are the clear and sole culprits of the failure.