Former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is implying that a photograph of a tunnel that was found under the Philadelphi Corridor during the war was presented to the public in a dishonest way and that the tunnel did not constitute a real threat, according to an investigation that will be broadcast tonight (Tuesday) on the "Zman Emet" (Real Time) program on Kan 11.
The investigation claims that, contrary to what was presented to the public, this was not a sophisticated terror tunnel, but a shallow trench covered with dirt.
Gallant, the former Defense Minister who was fired by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last year, claimed that the tunnel was not marketed to the public to prevent a hostage deal. "What the public doesn't see is that this tunnel is not 20 or 30 meters underground. This tunnel is one meter underground. And it's a covered underground passage, like when you drive under a freeway and occasionally drive through it. Someone took the picture, they made a big fuss about it. Lots of headlines, but in the end they didn't go under the Philadelphi Corridor."
According to the article, this misrepresentation of the tunnel was done in order to exaggerate the strategic importance of the Philadelphi Corridor and thus delay the hostage deal which included Hamas demands to leave the Corridor. It should be noted that the picture was officially distributed by the IDF Spokesperson's Unit and not by other sources.
Reserve soldier Yehonatan Werner responded to Gallant's claims, saying that he himself passed through the tunnel in question. "Regarding the story of the Philadelphi tunnel - I will comment in detail after tonight's episode. Until then - Gallant is a liar and a fraud. And this is written by someone who literally physically walked through this tunnel."
Journalist Avishai Greenzig also responded, saying, "You should understand what level of nonsense we have here. The IDF Spokesperson himself sent the military reporters to show them the tunnel with their own eyes. The IDF Spokesperson published it himself. One after another, military correspondents published how insane and serious a tunnel 3 meters high is. I haven't seen anyone claim that it's a tunnel 20 meters deep. Maybe you'll be able to find it somewhere, but hundreds of publications didn't say that. And today, Gallant is fooling the public by arguing with a straw man because the public doesn't know that it wasn't said to be 20 meters deep in order to deceive the public. And Avi Amit, who has already specialized in uncooked investigations, gives it the headline: 'The tunnel that wasn't there.'"
Channel 12 News commentator Amit Segal responded to claims that he published the photograph at the time after receiving it from the Prime Minister's Office, "Despite the stupid and anti-journalistic insinuation - I received the photo from the soldiers who were there."
"After trying to convince us that it was not a tunnel at all, the 'super investigator' Avi Amit, the man behind some of the most embarrassing articles in the corporation's history, is trying to claim that it came from Bibi in a baseless conspiracy. How much can you lie?" Segal asked.