News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) Bereaved parents Eliezer and Flora Smileg have filed a petition with the Supreme Court asking that the IDF commander who led their son’s battalion during the Second Lebanon War be dismissed.  The Smilegs say that the commander failed to rescue their son, Kobi,  after a Hizbullah anti-tank missile hit his tank during heavy fighting in the town of Bint Jbeil.

Eliezer Smileg explained that it took IDF rescue crews three hours to extricate Kobi from the damaged tank.  The commander in question left the scene during that time.  A doctor who was in the area did not arrive during that time, he said.  Kobi died from blood loss, he said, and his death might have been prevented if the commander had stayed and supervised the rescue efforts more effectively.

The IDF closed an investigation into Kobi’s death after determining that nobody could be held responsible for the tragedy.  “Somebody has to pay the price... If they had acted differently, Kobi would be with us today,” his parents said Sunday.