Following Operation Protective Edge in 2014, as IDF chief of staff, I visited over 70 bereaved families. Some embraced me, some cried, some asked for reassurance and some offered it. I looked them all in the eye and embraced them.
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This is the most difficult mission commanders faces, and it is also the most worthy of them all. Unfortunately, in our tormented country, it is also part of the routine for field commanders. The moral debt we owe these families is one we can never repay.
The military requires following orders, some of which were written in blood. Alongside this is the spirit of the IDF, a moral compass and a code of ethics, as well as the inherent risk of the oath to spare no effort for the protection of the homeland, and sometimes to lay down one's life for it.
By the nature of war, the IDF is not free of operational errors. Those have a price and sometimes it is a heavy one. We are committed to investigate them and learn from them.
The death of Border Police St.-Sgt. Barel Hadaria Shmueli pains us all – from the chief of staff down to the troops on the ground and, of course, the family, who have lost its son.
However, Shmueli was not murdered. He was a brave Border Police officer who was killed in the line of duty by terrorist fire while defending the residents of southern Israel.
The inquest into this incident is still ongoing, but initial conclusions have already been discerned. Shmueli's death cannot be used as a tool in petty political bickering at the IDF's expense. We have the finest military commanders but they are people, not robots, and therefore they are not infallible. But they do know how to scrutinize their actions and learn the necessary lesson.
I remember well how the Israeli Air Force carried on after the 1997 helicopter disaster [in which two IAF transport helicopters collided in mid-air over northern Israel, killing all 73 military personnel on board]. The IAF investigated the incident, reached conclusions, and came out of the tragedy stronger than ever. The following night, pilots and soldiers were again flying, deployed on a mission far from home.
We have neither the ability nor the prerogative to stop and as the new Jewish year is upon us, I have no good news. The security reality in which we live can again spell operations, military campaigns, and even war, heaven forbid. The IDF is ready for all of them, and Israeli society must also brace itself.
Our need for social resilience, solidarity, and a supportive home front is a condition for success on the battlefield and without them, there can be no triumph and no security. We owe this to our soldiers and commanders – to Israeli fathers, mothers, and children – we owe them this simple thing – backing. We are committed to them and we will always stand by their side.
On the eve of Rosh Hashanah, I wish to thank those lying in the trenches on the northern border or standing guard on the maritime border with Gaza, and those monitoring the airways, fueling planes, gathering intelligence and cooking for the troops, even on the holiday, so that they are ever-ready to go to battle. I promise you that we will stand by your side.
This is also my wish for the new year – that we become one cohesive society; that we safeguard IDF soldiers and commanders, and that we know how to support them, for better or for worse.
I call on my fellow politicians; I demand of you – leave bereavement out of politics. It is greater than any dispute. Leave the IDF to its natural sphere – long our borders and on the battlefield to protect us, to ward off war, and – if we must fight one – to win.
I wish all IDF soldiers, all Israelis, and all Jews in the dia
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