Be'eri resident, Chaim Yellin: 'IDF soldiers are our true heroes'

Chaim Yellin, a resident of Kibbutz Be’eri and former head of the Eshkol Regional Council, spoke to Arutz Sheva – Israel National News on the investigation conducted by the IDF on the failures leading up to the October 7 massacre.

"I’m having a very hard time with the investigation. I think the investigation had a certain purpose and that is to restore the trust of the citizens, who have to return to the kibbutzim and face the army. I didn't think that there should be argument within the army about this," says Yellin.

Yellin met recently with IDF soldiers and told them: "You are my real heroes. You and the first response team. Whoever fought, went in and got us out – they are our heroes. We can't look at things that way, not us as civilians. The army has to judge the situation in a professional manner."

Yellin points out that "here in Be’eri, where 33 people were killed to save us, paramedic Amit, doctor Daniel, five members of the first response team, eight policemen, soldiers and civilians – I think we must embrace their families – we cannot be arguing now. We already knew most of what was published."

Yelin adds: "We are still asking and we probably won't get an answer to this question without a state commission of inquiry is how we got to the situation that 350 terrorists entered Be’eri, butchered and murdered 101 members, children and babies."

Regarding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's statements about a national commission of inquiry, Yellin says that "it is impossible to start a healing process without closure, without us understanding what happened there. Without the people of Israel understanding how 3,500 Nukhba terrorists crossed the border from Gaza through 60 points, entered Israel’s borders, with the army and the government present, to the place that should be the safest in the world, and they murdered and slaughtered us. This question will echo all the time. We will not be able to reach closure and start healing without this."

Yellin believes that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should not be traveling to the US to address the Congress. "The Prime Minister should stay in Israel. The Knesset should not have a break. Just as I am not traveling abroad, I am not emotionally able to go abroad, I am not able to leave the country, so if the members of the Knesset and the Prime Minister do not feel it, then they don't understand what has gone on here. The massacre is part of our souls. It has hit us in our most sensitive place, in our stomach, in the heart of this nation."

"Just as the IDF has set a personal example, I expect there to be one in politics as well. I want everyone to be here. There are soldiers fighting inside Gaza, there are soldiers in the north. They cannot go on a break for three months. They are also not taking any responsibility. On October 7, 2024, if the Knesset does not dissolve and the same government stands – what will it say on the anniversary of the largest massacre of the Jewish people in their own country? It's hard for me, because this is a moral issue."

"What should we do when 120 Knesset members are fighting against each other? What are we supposed to do as a nation? Who do they think they are? They don't understand human emotions. Have they got no heart? They are only concerned with slogans and ringing bells? We need to stop this."