Brigadier General (res.) Dadi Simchi, father of Sergeant Guy Simchi, who fell on October 7th, and a former AGM officer in the Gaza Division, addressed today (Sunday), in a conversation with Gideon Oko and Amichai Atali on 103fm radio, the defense establishment's perceived major responsibility for the October 7th blunder.
Simchi argued that what happened in the military system needs to be addressed at its root: "Even as a senior officer, I say that there have been governments and wars throughout the years, in wars we will pay prices, but the massacre that occurred on October 7 is not the problem of any government. The massacre itself, 1,200 dead in eight hours, is not a diplomatic or political problem, it is a professional problem of the army and the Shin Bet, which are professional ranks and should have prevented this.".
He added: "Throughout all the wars in history, there should have been X killed and not ten X, that can't be, I have a feeling that we're getting confused. Let the political echelon be judged, they are responsible, they have ministerial responsibility, direct responsibility and everything. But this incident of ten X killed is not related to the political echelon, it's related to an operational system, which is its profession and it should be our insurance company.".
He continued: "October 7 is Yom Kippur times a thousand. It's the second Lebanon times thirty thousand. I say they will investigate the political echelon, but we need to understand how an army that receives hundreds of billions and the blood of our sons and daughters, and in the end slaughters and burns 1,200 of our people in eight hours. I don't think for a moment that there was betrayal or conspiracy, our soldiers are brave and holy, but I think that just as they are looking to investigate the political echelon, we need to investigate the military echelon even more. I think the needle is now approaching arrogance and negligence and I hope it doesn't reach criminal negligence.".
Regarding the prosecution of senior figures, he said: "I don't know if anyone should be in prison, but it can't be that people who received a Mercedes and drove it carelessly will come and say, 'I committed a crime, I'm going home.' It doesn't work like that, it works in a normal war, not in a massacre.".
Simhi then explained the need to establish a committee agreed upon by all parts of the people: "I thought everyone would issue protocols and half-protocols - the investigative committee would work by collecting materials, then collecting evidence, and then analyzing everything. The prime minister would issue all the protocols, all the heads of the systems would issue them and compare them word for word. The judgment in the end would be subjective. That's how it is in human history. The subjective analysis must be done by a composition that has a consensus in the country.".
He emphasized: "What I'm trying to say is that the most important thing is the consensus of the committee. The prime minister issued a protocol and suddenly they say, 'No, he quoted half a line.' If there is one committee that is acceptable to everyone, the incident that happens on the radio and in the media will happen before the committee. If there are serious people there, they will know how to read the protocols, and they will know what to ask for that was not presented to them, and then they will judge it. That's the arrangement, that's what will happen.".
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