Former Southern Command General Dan Harel, who commanded the "disengagement" plan - the expulsion of the Jews from Gush Katif - was a guest at the 12 News studio yesterday and answered the question of 12 News' political commentator Amit Segal, who asked how he explained the catastrophe of October 7th.
Harel replied to Segal that "it happened from a fatal combination of the army's unpreparedness. There was no warning, and unbearable pressure from the government to transfer the maximum number of forces to the Judea and Samaria region."
Harel continued to stick to his version that had already been denied by the IDF and said: "In the end, when you are in the area of Judea and Samaria, you allow entry to Joseph's Tomb, for example, but you need a brigade to secure the few buses that enter, or send a battalion and a half from the south to secure Mr. Sukkot's sukkah which was inside Huwara. So you reach a situation where there are not enough forces. This is a grave mistake by the army." When the political commentator Amit Segal commented that the idea that was spread on the networks had already been denied by the IDF and commented that there had been serious attacks in Judea and Samaria before October 7th, Harel did not retract his words.
In response to the statements that had already been denied by the IDF, former MK Zehava Galon added in a tweet on Network X: "It's worth mentioning this every day - the Gaza border could have been safe if we hadn't decided that we had enough forces to secure every settlement, every outpost, every provocation by settlers, there is no forgiveness for that."
The head of the Samaria Council, Yossi Dagan, reacted sharply to the words of the commander of the "disengagement" Dan Harel: "Dan Harel is an evil liar and instigator. From the one who ordered the expulsion from Gush Katif in such an evil way, we expect some modesty these days, when the "disengagement" is exploding in our faces. It is shameful that while the best of our people are fighting at the front, and defending the south and the north, when 80% of the men from the settlements are recruited to the front, when we go from funeral to funeral because 30% of the fighters killed after 7/10 are from Judea and Samaria, the extreme left finds time to incite lies and divide the people. There is no forgiveness for that."
Dagan added: "The joke becomes even sadder when the very ones who brought this disaster upon us, those who pressed to carry out and carried out the criminal disengagement from Gaza that left the Gaza Strip envelope unprotected, dare to point an accusing and false finger at the pioneering settlement in Judea and Samaria that protects Gush Dan with its body. We will continue to educate our sons to be the best possible for this country, we will continue to build the country and protect it. No lunatic of the extreme left will break us here. I expect the media to show responsibility at this time and stop the incitement."