IDF investigations often yield results that are “lightyears away from the truth” and meant to protect those investigated, an anonymous source told the unofficial civilian probe of October 7.
According to the committee leading the probe, the anonymous source, referred to as N, is from the IDF’s Southern Command.
N, referring to the army branch of the IDF, said that “almost every” investigation completed by the army is far from the truth and “motivated by a strategy of guarding one another.”
Because of the nature of his job, he has become an expert in investigations, N told the committee.
In some IDF investigations, the conflict of interests of those charged with completing the investigation is obvious. In one such investigation, N noticed that the person tasked with heading the investigation was supposed to be promoted by IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi.
This person “was a Colonel that Herzi appointed to be the head of the investigation committee, but this Colonel was supposed to get a promotion from Herzi Halevi, so how can he investigate the performance of the commanders?” N asked.
“There is a significant conflict of interest.”
Bringing up another example, N described an investigation in which he expected to be questioned but was not. When he asked why, N told the probe that he was told, “We had to take care of the Major-General, and if we asked you questions, we would not have been able to take care of the Major-General and the command.”
Touching on unanswered questions
During his testimony, N also touched on a question that has been raised repeatedly in the past months about the performance of the Israel Air Force on October 7, explaining that there was no time to bring in the Air Force to respond.
“We checked the times it took the terrorists to get from the gate of Shejaia to the Nahal Oz outpost,” he explained.
“When Hamas terrorists broke through the gate, it took them between a minute and forty seconds to a minute and fifty seconds to reach the Nahal Oz outpost and start the slaughter.”
“It took another two and a half minutes to reach Sa’ad Junction, another few minutes to [reach] Netivot. How can it call in the air force at that time?”
“Someone in the army has to call in the air force. There was not enough time for anyone in the command to respond and call in the air force immediately because it took seconds until they were also attacked,” he said.
The civilian probe, which was announced in July, is composed of security and legal experts and it investigates the “events before October 7, which formed the foundation for the biggest security failure in the state’s history,” and examines the failures of the military and political systems, it said.
One of the primary goals of the probe’s committee is to initiate the foundation of a state probe, which was denied by Israel’s political echelon.
The IDF has not yet responded to a request for comment.