ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF
Updated:

Bereaved families expressed anger and shock on Wednesday that former IDF chief of staff Aviv Kohavi has access to military documents, records, and information relating to October 7.

“Unlike the former chief of staff, we had to petition the High Court of Justice to receive any organized information about our loved ones who were killed on October 7,” they said.

KAN reported on Tuesday that Kohavi was gathering October 7-related information, with the approval of the military, including raw data, meeting notes, and situational assessments. The IDF has put out dozens of probes already, split into locations to organize the review of the military’s acts on that day.

Eyal Eshel, the father of slain observer Roni Eshel, told KAN Reshet Bet, “The entire state was handed on a silver platter to Hamas on October 7, and the failures were already present then. They are all tied to the shadowy culture of keeping quiet, not saying anything, and not rocking the boat; this is the culture that led us to that awful Saturday.”

IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi speaks at the officers graduation ceremony, July 1st, 2020
IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi speaks at the officers graduation ceremony, July 1st, 2020 (credit: IDF SPOKESMAN’S UNIT)

Failure to establish State Commission of Inquiry into October 7 failures

He added that perhaps the greatest marker of this shortcoming on the part of public servants and elected officials is the prolonged delay in establishing a state commission of inquiry into the failures of October 7. He noted that this is what opened the door to Kohavi’s actions, which allowed something like this to happen.

“The process has not even yet begun; the IDF has not worked to change its culture of silence. So much information has not been revealed to the public,” he said.

He also specifically criticized Kohavi for his part in the failure that led to October 7, for how he pushed for a smaller, more technological army, echoing a common criticism of the military, that it didn’t put enough focus on foot soldiers, who were so glaringly missing on that day.

“How is it possible that one of the men who helped build the faulty foundations of Israel’s security outlook can roam freely in the most intimate and unknown corners of the army?” asked Eshel.