Bereaved parents 'demand a leadership that takes responsibility'
A letter drafted by parents of soldiers killed during Operation Protective Edge notes that 'the comptroller's report describes numerous failures' and that the parents demand 'full implementation of its conclusions.'
Approximately 50 mothers of soldiers who fought in the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2014 demonstrated in Tel Aviv in front of the IDF headquarters.
"We demand the government take responsibility for the failures and take political action," said Marilyn Smadja, of the Women make Peace Organization.
Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein read from a letter drafted by the bereaved parents of the soldiers who were killed in the line of duty.
"After two and a half years, and a prolonged wait, we finally received the comptroller's report. For the first time, we received a document examining the events leading up to the war and of the war itself, which is tremendously important to the bereaved families and the citizens of Israel."
The bereaved parents also wrote that "the comptroller's report describes many failures in the conduct of the Cabinet, the National Security Council, the Shin Bet and our preparedness for the tunnels—which no one takes responsibility for, and there is great danger they might return in the future.
"As citizens, we must rely on the prime minister, the defense minister, the members of the Knesset and the government in times of peace and in times of war. Members of Knesset, you are the ones who sent our boys into battle, you have the moral obligation to learn the lessons and implement them.," the letter continued.
"We denand the public be presented with a political and military plan changing procedures and priorities before the threat turns into a new war. We deserve answers, we deserve a leadership that takes responsibility," the bereaved parents concluded.
Samuel Lavie, father of Cpt. Liad Lavie who was killed during Protective Edge told Ynet: "We will sit in all meetings, follow all the decisions and ensure their implementation. If the conclusions are not applied, we shall be heard… Each MK will have to look us in the eye and we will haunt them until the report is applied. We will not stop until the situation is changed."
The report, released on Tuesday, revealed significant intelligence gaps and showed that crucial information was not adequately supplied to the cabinet during the discussions prior to the operation.
"The general statements made during the cabinet deliberations did not reflect the seriousness of the offensive tunnels' threat," stated the comptroller, retired Judge Joseph Shapira.
Oron Shaul's family, an IDF soldier who was declared killed in action and whose body remains in Gaza, said in response to the comptroller's report: "The report confirms our two year outcry which sometimes seemed surreal and unrealistic."
The 50-day Gaza war was a medley of cover ups, they said, culminating in the leadership's "rash decision, which goes against Halachic (Jewish) law, to declare Oron a soldier killed in action whose burial site is unknown."
