IDF Spokesman refutes soldiers' criticism: 'Be'eri inquiry was very professional'

IDF Spokesman R. Adm. Daniel Hagari spoke at the Calcalist conference about criticism of the inquiry into the military's failures in Kibbutz Be'eri on October 7th.

"In my opinion, it was a very professional, high-quality, and difficult inquiry. We have a great obligation to present, and that's what we will do with the coming inquiries, what happened with the general staff: what happened with the intelligence, what happened with the defense response, what happened the night before October 7th. That's what we will do, we'll present it to the public, that's our obligation," Hagari stated.

He added: "I have to say something clear about the inquiry, since I see the posts by soldiers and I have to say - the heroism of the soldiers and units who fought on October 7th, including the Shaldag Unit, was great heroism. They strove for contact with terrorists across the Gaza envelope, in every place, and they have been fighting since then. A generation of commanders and soldiers that brings much pride."

Hagari's statements come amid serious criticism by members of the Shaldag Unit who expressed fury and disappointment over the claims in the inquiry against the unit's soldiers who fought in Be'eri. A member of the unit told Galei Tzhal: "It's a delusional inquiry. They fought like lions and pushed for contact. Do they have no shame?"

Lt. Col. (Res.) Roni Eliav, who was a member of both the Sayeret Matkal and Shaldag units, wrote on social media: "False inquiry. The IDF inquiry which was published about the fighting in Be'eri is full of lies and wrong conclusions. This is not an inquiry, it's a statement of defense for the civilian rapid response teams and Barak Hiram."

According to Eliav, "In contrast to what was written in the inquiry, a Shaldag force of 13 men arrived at 8:45 in the morning and ran into battle in the western neighborhoods and entered an ambush of hundreds of terrorists. One soldier was wounded and another was killed immediately after. The commander of the force, who was sure he had two soldiers with life-threatening wounds, decided to evacuate them to an evac helicopter outside the kibbutz. The force remained in the center of the kibbutz and two soldiers, together with two members of the civilian response team, evacuated the wounded. When they returned, the force went to fight but refused to enter another ambush and set up their own ambushes. The force's confrontation stopped the attack. So why not write that? They wrote that between 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., the civilian response team fought by itself. That's a lie. The members of the civilian response team didn't have weapons and the few civilians that did have weapons didn't have ammo."