Nearly three years after the October 7th Massacre, the argument over the manner in security establishment functioned on that terrible day continues, even among former top officials.

Joining the discord is former commander of the Air Force, Major General (Ret.) Eitan Ben Eliyahu, who claimed that of all the IDF's branches, the one that was designed to respond swiftly to emergency situations was not available during the critical hours. He said that the main lesson that needs to be learned is that the IAF must ensure that at least some of its forces are on standby that enables them to react within half an hour, even in the case of a surprise attack.

First published by Israeli journalist Gideon Alon, Ben Eliyahu made the remarks during a lecture on Friday to the Commercial and Industrial Club at the Hilton hotel in Tel Aviv.

Ben Eliyahu stated that "the Air Force was built in a way that it could respond quickly, but on the morning of October 7th, it didn't happen."

He added that "one of the lessons that must be learned from the failure of October 7th is that a surprises can always happen and therefore, at least part of the Air Force must be ready within half an hour."