Former IDF Chief Of Staff Aviv Kochavi on Monday spoke publicly for the first time since October 7th and took responsibility for the failures that led to the massacre.
Kochavi served as IDF chief of staff from January 2019 to January 2023.
Speaking at a memorial ceremony for Hagana members killed in 1948, Kochavi said that the October 7th massacre was a shocking event that requires thorough investigation from all angles, including the period he served as the IDF chief of staff. “I am responsible for the actions and decisions made in the IDF during my time, and I constantly question what could have been done differently,” he said.
Kochavi also referred to the division in Israeli society that preceded the massacre, saying: “Influential people adopt a path that poses a security and existential threat. While it is not right to demand a halt to disagreements, extreme and toxic expressions must stop. Above all, keep the army out of this discourse, let the IDF win. Do not give our enemies another opportunity to harm us due to lack of unity.”
“These are challenging days, but they must not crush everything we have built, the many achievements, the thriving democracy, and our values. We have no other land, nowhere else to go. We will continue to defend ourselves from external threats, but we will also need to defend ourselves no less from internal threats.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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The report that residents of Kiryat Sefer have heard digging etc.
The fact is, there are Arab villages quite near our neighborhood.
I hear their calls for prayer and hear their festivities.
So think again, this does need to be investigated ASAP.