How the closure of the Hatzav unit dismantled Israel’s ability to read its adversaries, leading to catastrophe.

In the aftermath of Israel’s catastrophic intelligence failure on October 7th, 2023, when Hamas militants breached the Gaza border and killed over 1,160 Israelis, soul-searching has begun within the intelligence community. Investigators repeatedly highlight a critical gap left by the disbanding of Israel’s specialized Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) unit, Hatzav.Hatzav, operating under Aman (Military Intelligence Directorate), specialized in systematically monitoring, analyzing, and contextualizing publicly available information, including:

• Palestinian and Arab media
• Social media communications
• Public statements and speeches
• Cultural and propaganda materials
• Religious and ideological frameworks

While Israel’s Unit 8200 focused heavily on technical intelligence and cyber operations, Hatzav’s role was equally crucial—tracking adversaries’ public messaging and ideological narratives, essentially “reading the mail” of the enemy.

Why OSINT Matters

OSINT provides a unique value that purely technical collection cannot, including:

• Contextualizing classified intelligence
• Establishing baselines of normal behavior
• Detecting shifts in rhetoric and intentions
• Monitoring mobilization efforts
• Offering deep cultural and linguistic insights

Open-source materials contain critical insights into groups like Hamas, who rely heavily on public communications to engage supporters.

The Fateful Decision to Disband Hatzav

Several years before the October 7th attack, Hatzav was shuttered as part of broader resource reallocations toward more high-tech, “prestigious” intelligence operations. Investigations specifically criticized this move, noting it created an imbalance that neglected core intelligence fundamentals.

As one Israeli officer later admitted, “There was no meaningful monitoring of open communications in the Gaza Strip and social networks” after Hatzav’s closure.

Missed Warning Signs

The military investigation identified several indicators that robust OSINT capabilities could have detected:

• Hamas’s television series, “Fist of the Free,” foreshadowing the October attack
• Rhetorical shifts after Yahya Sinwar’s rise in 2016
• Renewed border demonstrations in September 2023
• Unusual quiet along the Gaza border the day before the attack
• Propaganda materials clearly revealing Hamas’s training and preparations

Each of these signs went unnoticed without a dedicated unit systematically analyzing publicly available sources.

The Loss of Cultural Understanding

Perhaps most significantly, dismantling Hatzav created a dangerous gap in cultural and linguistic expertise, which is essential for interpreting ideological signals. One glaring example was finding Hamas’s operational manual, intricately combined with Quranic verses—exactly the kind of material that Hatzav analysts would have interpreted effectively.

As the military’s investigation explicitly noted, there was a clear “decline in the place of language, culture, ideology, and religious perception as part of understanding the enemy.”

Israel’s Response: A New OSINT Center

In recognition of this failure, Major General Shlomi Binder, the current head of Military Intelligence, has ordered the establishment of a new OSINT center. However, rebuilding such specialized capabilities is neither quick nor easy—cultural analysts cannot be trained overnight.

Broader Intelligence Failures

The closure of Hatzav reflects wider systemic issues within Israeli intelligence, including:

• Conceptual fixation on Hamas’s supposed deterrence
• Cultural arrogance and analytical hubris
• Organizational resistance to contrary views
• Over-reliance on technological intelligence at the expense of human analysis

Removing specialized units eliminated alternative perspectives that might have challenged these dangerous assumptions.

Global Intelligence Lessons Learned

The Hatzav story underscores several critical lessons for intelligence agencies worldwide:

• OSINT is not a secondary intelligence function but a fundamental analytical framework.
• Cultural and linguistic expertise remains irreplaceable by technical means.
• A balanced approach, combining OSINT, HUMINT, and technical intelligence, is essential.
• Institutional structures must support challenging prevailing conceptions.
• Systematic monitoring of adversaries’ public messaging is critical, not optional.

Moving Forward

As Israel rebuilds its intelligence capabilities, the resurrection of OSINT underscores a broader truth: sometimes the most crucial intelligence isn’t secret but hiding openly—waiting for expert analysts who understand the human, cultural, and historical context.

Israel has learned this painful lesson at great cost. The broader intelligence community would do well to heed this warning now, before facing their own catastrophic failures.