“Look into their eyes.” This was the injunction made to Israeli leaders by the parents of the five IDF observers, filmed on October 7 by Hamas GoPros, before authorizing almost eight months later the sharing of these shocking images. For three minutes, these young girls aged barely 19 appear with bloody faces, tied up, molested, surrounded by corpses, the morning of their kidnapping in the military outpost of Nahal Oz.
Stationed at the border of the Gaza Strip, Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Daniela Gilboa and Naama Levy (shown in another video the crotch of her gray tracksuit stained with blood) had just taken up their duty as lookouts, tatzpitaniyot in Hebrew.
The “eyes of Israel” in the face of the country’s vital threat
Those nicknamed the “eyes of Israel” paid a heavy price on the day of the attacks. Of the 26 watchers in Nahal Oz, 15 were murdered during the assault, while of the seven kidnapped watchers, only one was rescued by the army. Another was killed in captivity. Their disastrous fate created a shock wave all the stronger because this tragedy alone crystallizes the deepest wounds of Israeli society and the security failure of the Jewish state.
“What happened with the observers, non-combatant soldiers [NDLR : elles ne sont pas armées] and who nevertheless find themselves on the front line, so close to the border and defenseless, particularly disturbed me”, confides filmmaker Talya Lavie, whose first film Zero motivation, a comedy released in 2014, told the story of two soldiers whose military service presented itself as a two-year journey out of boredom.
The director is currently working on the script for her next feature film, Seven Eyes, dedicated to the soldiers guarding the border with Gaza. “These young women, conscripted under compulsory conscription, fulfill their assigned role with dedication and much of the tragedy lies in the fact that they constantly see what is happening on the other side of the line. border, underlines Talya Lavie. They report and warn of the approaching threat.
Were they taken sufficiently seriously by their superiors, in the months or weeks preceding the attack of October 7, when they reported suspicious actions? Several testimonies relayed in the Israeli media suggest not. In an alley in the south of Tel Aviv, a huge graffiti represents three young observers wearing thick mustaches who are trying in vain to raise the alarm, with this central message: “the writing was on the wall” (“mass was said”).
Female observers, essential for the Israeli army
One thing is certain: born in 1998 to monitor the border with Lebanon, the function of observer, whose job consists of collecting information using different tools (cameras, sensors, etc.), eyes glued to their screens between four to six hours straight per session, caused a lot of ink to flow in Israel. Responsible for detecting any anomaly within the area under their responsibility, the tatzpitaniyot have taken on significant importance within the Israeli army. “In the space of twenty-five years, the number of observers enlisted each year has increased from 150 to 3,000,” confides to us a former watcher, who rose to a command post. This is one of of the rare all-female IDF units Their work is Sisyphean, complex, with a significant amount of stress and it requires special qualities to manage the relationship with the combatants. In 2005, we also created a pilot experiment. to give men access to this function, and it didn’t work…”
This career soldier specifies that she does not subscribe to the narrative according to which the tragedy of Nahal Oz occurred because the warnings of the observers were not listened to. “Their bereaved families cling to this thesis, and I respect their pain, but objectively, it does not hold water. Nor does it do justice to these soldiers who showed heroism on the day of the attacks in the cruelest circumstances.”
Information scientist from military intelligence unit 8200, Karine Nahon believes that only a state investigation will shed light on the dysfunctions of the security system. The military said it would begin releasing the results of its internal investigation into the events of Oct. 7 early next month.
But those who are calling for the creation of a national commission of inquiry consider this military procedure insufficient. “The observers represent only one level within a constellation of different signals that we have ignored,” notes Karine Nahon, without excluding the existence of a “sexist bias”. At the time of the Hamas attacks, this researcher distinguished herself by setting up a platform using advanced technologies and mobilizing more than 1,500 volunteers to identify the missing.
A leading figure in the fight for the truth led by the parents of the Nahal Oz observers, Eyal Eshel had to wait thirty-four days before the body of his daughter Roni, once supposed to be a hostage, was identified. At the beginning of April, he went to the large military recruitment center of Tel-Hashomer, in the suburbs of Tel-Aviv, to remember this rite of passage accomplished eight months earlier. In the queue, several families recognize the man with the steely gaze who assures that the lookouts of the Israeli army were left “defenseless” during the Hamas assault. That day, dozens of new recruits, traumatized, refused their assignment. tatzpitaniyot. Conversely, others will declare themselves honored to continue their work.
For his part, the spokesperson for the Israeli army and Lieutenant General Daniel Hagari did not fail to point out their valuable contribution, on June 6, during an infiltration attempt, which occurred approximately two hundred meters away. from the border with Gaza. “Terrorists came out of a tunnel, they were armed and were spotted at four in the morning, in the fog, by observers,” he declared in a televised intervention. Five minutes after the incident, three terrorists were killed and the fourth fled to Rafah. “The observers and fighters acted with determination and prevented a larger attack.”
In the wake of the raid led by IDF, on June 8, which made it possible to free alive four hostages held in Gaza by Hamas in the Nousseirat camp, Avi Marciano was unable to turn a blind eye to another reality. The father of Noa, the observer kidnapped in Nahal Oz and murdered at Al-Shifa hospital, and whose body the army was able to recover last winter, declared himself very moved for the families who had the chance to be able to find and hug their loved ones. “I’m also envious,” he confessed. “It highlights how badly our story ended.” The Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, immediately went to meet the four captives, all kidnapped from the site of the Nova music festival, in the hospital which received them. “When it ends badly, he doesn’t show up,” says Avi Marciano. “He doesn’t take the time to call either.”
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