Irena Charniak at husband's funeral
Photo: Hertzel Yosef
Right: Janna Lipson
Photo: Chaim Horenstein
"The entire system is to blame for the deaths of Oleg and Lev; the fact that blame was placed on the shoulders of the regiment commander makes him a scapegoat," Irena Charniak, the widow of Lev Charniak, who was killed during the terror attack on Nahal Oz,
told Ynet.
Charniak expressed anger at the dismissal of Lt.-Col. Yair Barnes, due to his failure in dealing with the attack on the fuel terminal. "An investigation committee needs to be set up, in order to examine the conduct during the attack and to check the army's response, not just that of this particular regiment," she said.
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Janna Lipson, Oleg's widow, was not relieved at the commander's dismissal either. "It doesn't change a thing," she said. "The fact that he was afraid to go in and sent tanks later doesn't matter. Our husbands were already dead, and after they were killed three soldiers were also killed."
According to Lipson, the commander's dismissal was after the fact, as he had already accepted responsibility for the security breach. "They never should have let two unarmed men to work so close to the border," Lipson criticized. "We were left feeling that they had died for nothing, and there's nothing to be done because I don't believe the government will change anything."
The relationship between the Lipson and Charniak families was one of a 17-year friendship. "I lost my husband and my best friend," Irena wept.
Janna added, "We raised our children together and these days we both sit together and comfort each other. We look at their pictures and notice that even their clothes were similar. The age difference between them didn’t matter to them, and they remain good friends in life and death."
Irena said that until she had been summoned to identify her husband's body she had felt that Israel was her home, but things had changed after that. "Today I don't want my daughter to go to the army, I don't feel we are protected as citizens and I don't see how this will change. I don't believe in this government anymore.
"When we immigrated here in the 90's we felt that this country is strong, with a strong army, but after the attack we understood that this was an illusion, and I don't feel safe here anymore."