Yehuda Bartov, a reserve soldier from the 605th Engineering Battalion, joined other soldiers in firmly rejecting the claims of the investigation that will be broadcast tonight (Tuesday) on the "Real Time" program on Kan 11, according to which the tunnel shown on the Philadelphi Corridor was not a real tunnel but a shallow trench.
Bartov wrote that last August, his unit received a mission to destroy all the tunnels on the Philadelphi Corridor. According to him, they operated in the field for three weeks and destroyed over 100 tunnels, using accurate intelligence. Some of the tunnels were not destroyed for the purpose of gathering intelligence, but the vast majority were destroyed.
According to him, the published photograph showing a battalion commander entering the tunnel accurately reflects its true size and significance. According to him, this is not a shallow tunnel, but a significant tunnel, part of which was dug deep, and all the attempts to downplay it are distortions of reality and harm the work of the forces in the field.
Writing to the journalist behind the "Real Time" investigation, Bartov stated, "This famous photo is a photo of my battalion commander here in a Hummer entering a very significant tunnel, not some small tunnel as you published. Before you publish nonsense, check the facts! I hope the corporation will not publish this fake investigation."
Bartov's comments come after the preliminary publication of a "Real Time" investigation, which claimed that the tunnel was not as deep as had been claimed at the time of the photograph's initial publication, and that the photo was used to influence public perception of the importance of the Philadelphi Corridor - as a tool to delay a hostage deal.
Yoav Gallant, the former Defense Minister who was fired by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last year, claimed that the tunnel was not presented honestly to the public in order 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 investigation, 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 unbelievable and significant a tunnel 3 meters high is. I have never seen anyone claim that it's a tunnel 20 meters deep. Maybe you'll be able to find that claim somewhere, but hundreds of publications didn't say that. And today, Gallant is fooling the public by arguing with a straw man in order to deceive the public, because the public doesn't know that it wasn't said to be 20 meters deep. 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.