''Need Brakes? I'm Brakes!' The Gaza officer's appeal following the truck disaster

January 11, 2024   

Hello Sivan, I think many Israelis have thought of me in recent days, without knowing me: I am the officer at the edge of the incident, where they confirmed the firing of the Israeli tank, in the explosion incident in Al-Bureij. We are responsible for the words 'permitted to fire'. And six soldiers were killed. The last two days have been the hardest of my life. I don't want to go into the operational conclusions, which will come later. Everything will be investigated. We are in a complex arena, making countless decisions under difficult conditions and coordinating between many branches. I do want to convey to you, right now, just one request: As soon as this happened, dozens of missing persons searchers, military rabbis, scanning units, trackers, sniffer dogs, and all of this went in, all within a combat zone. I tried to manage the incident and make operational calls and almost failed. Everyone called. The whole world. Within seconds, the news spread that Idan Amid had also been injured in the incident, which only raised the level of interest. I'm telling you from the inside: This is harming, in real time, the functioning of the forces. The entire country is spreading rumors, spreading worries, and spreading information, true or false. I know that in recent years we have succeeded in changing the way bereaved families receive the message. Awareness of the issue has increased, sensitivity has increased. Now I would like to talk about the damage to the functioning of the forces involved in the field, in real time. At the most technical level, we are supposed to disconnect from emotion and work only with reason, like a robot, to do the maximum to evacuate the wounded and the dead. But all the terror from the outside comes in. An officer enters the room and says: 'Wow, wow, what's going on with Telegram.' Someone says that his wife has already heard all the details in the neighborhood WhatsApp group and that there was a huge IDF fiasco. It hurts the spirit, it hurts the functioning. I completely understand the curiosity and the desire to know what happened, and of course I also understand the concern for your loved ones, but please, you are asking what happened in the event while the event is still happening. I beg you: take a breath out there. Don't create more noise. Did you receive a message? You can filter it. You can write: 'We need to pray' and that's it. Don't write 'A difficult event, don't ask'. Everyone needs to ask themselves what their message will cause. Is he another link in the chain of fear, or is he the one who will cause more resilience. You are also part of our forces. We know the phrase 'Need a wheel? I'm a wheel!'. I propose another phrase: 'Need brakes? I'm brakes!'. Be that brakes. Don't be the first, don't be exclusive, be balanced. As mentioned, there is no shifting of responsibility here "On the ground. There will be much more to say and explore. I barely slept two hours last night, but I woke up in the morning and felt the need to convey things.".