Shimon Elkabetz, an i24NEWS presenter whose daughter Sivan was murdered alongside her boyfriend during the October 7 massacre at Kibbutz Kfar Aza, sharply criticized former IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi over his recent appearances in the United States, accusing him of publicly analyzing the military's failures without having provided sufficient answers to the families of the victims.
Halevi's visit to New York, where he discussed the IDF's failures on October 7, prompted an emotional response from Elkabetz, who questioned how the former military chief could appear on international stages to explain the disaster.
In a pointed monologue, Elkabetz recalled that shortly before leaving his position, Halevi traveled to the United States to receive a medal from his American counterpart.
"The chief of staff responsible for the greatest military failure in the history of the Jewish people since the Holocaust traveled to receive a medal. For what, exactly? For the 1,200 people murdered in the October 7 massacre? For the 1,000 courageous soldiers who gave their lives for their homeland? For the 26,000 people wounded physically and psychologically?" he asked.
Elkabetz also criticized Halevi's latest American visit, during which he appeared as a guest of Shurat HaDin, an organization working to pursue legal action against Hamas and expose its crimes.
"I don't understand this whole business of giving him a flight and hotel. For what, exactly? To try to explain the reasons for the failure philosophically, in English? Can you imagine inviting a soccer goalkeeper who conceded 1,200 goals to explain at a FIFA conference how to keep a clean sheet?"
The bereaved father said he was particularly troubled by Halevi's willingness to publicly analyze the October 7 disaster when families of the victims were still waiting for answers. Halevi had personally apologized to Elkabetz and Sivan's mother, Anati, at their daughter's home. Sivan was murdered alongside her boyfriend, Naor Hasidim, in the Dor Tza'ir neighborhood of Kibbutz Kfar Aza.
"He apologized to us. We did not get all the answers. Above all, we did not understand how, for God's sake, the army was absent for so many hours. Look, they murdered us simply because we were Jews. We were all blind, but we were allowed to be. We are civilians; we are allowed to dream, to make mistakes, to close our eyes. Herzi's army had no right to close its eyes, to go silent, to be arrogant and conceited."
Elkabetz said it was especially painful to watch Halevi discuss the events as though he were an outside military commentator rather than the commander responsible for the army at the time.
"We have not experienced a failure like this, with 1,200 people murdered, since the Holocaust. It is so painful to see Herzi Halevi onstage trying to analyze everything that happened like a military commentator. What happened to us was because of that blindness. Why put things right? Because we have no other army, we have no other country, because that is what we must do to be worthy of them - the fallen, the murdered, the wounded, all of us."