Bereaved families from Samaria whose loved ones were killed defending the residents of the kibbutzim and cities near the Gaza Strip demonstrated Thursday in front of the home of Maj. Gen. (res.) Dan Harel, after he claimed that the transfer of forces to Judea and Samaria led to the harsh consequences of Black Sabbath. The demonstrators demanded that he apologize.
Bereaved families from Samaria demonstrate in front of Dan Harel's home: "Apologise now!" // Roy Hedi
Among the representatives of the bereaved families who demonstrated were Amichai Ressler from Kedumim, father of Staff Sergeant Dvir Ressler, who fell in battle on October 7 at an outpost near Kibbutz Nirim, and Sarah Ben Yitzhak from Giv'ot Itamar, sister of Major Or (Orosh) Ran from the Giv'ot Olam outpost.
The son of the "father of the outposts" Avri Ran, who fell a heroic death when he rescued the residents of Kibbutz Kfar Gaza on October 7, and Avi Baruch, chairman of the Kiryat Netafim settlement committee, father of Staff Sergeant (res.) Adi Baruch, who was killed as a reserve soldier from a Hamas rocket defending the residents of Sderot.
"It's no shame to say, 'Sorry, I was wrong.'" Bereaved families demonstrate in front of Dan Harel's home, today, Photo: Roy Hedi
Sarah Ben Yitzhak, sister of Maj. Urosh Ran, a company commander in Duvdevan who was killed while rescuing residents of Kfar Azza, said in front of Harel's house: "My brother was killed in the village of Gaza on Simchat Torah while he was rescuing people from the safe rooms. I now have three brothers who are fighting in Gaza, and another on the Lebanese border."
"This very statement, which tries to divert the blame from any political, security or political level, and transfer it to us residents, who merely want to travel on the roads safely and exist, while we send our men to fight, is a divisive and unnecessary attempt."
Avi Baruch, father of Staff Sgt. Adi Baruch, who fell in Sderot, added: "She lives in Kiryat Netafim, but she chose to go to Sderot because the residents of Sderot and Samaria are the same. We are one people, there is no difference between us. There is no difference between her blood and the blood of those who broadcast, so she went where she was needed, where the people of Israel needed her."
"If the people of Israel need it in Samaria, it will be in Samaria, and if the people of Israel need it in Sderot, it will be in Sderot. Where we need the soldiers we have denied, they will be, in order to protect the people of Israel and the State of Israel."
"A serious error by the military." Dan Harel, Photo: Oren Nachshon
Amichai Ressler, father of Staff Sgt. Dvir Haim who was killed in battle near Kibbutz Nirim, said: "I am proud of my son for being on the Gaza border. He didn't think about where he was. The goal was one – to defend where he was told to defend. If it's in Gaza, if it's in Hebron, if it's in Hadera and with it in the Golan Heights. Wherever he was told, there he stood proudly. The best apology for all the people of Israel is that you will make sure that all the people of Israel will be happy, and that will bring unity."
The head of the Samaria Regional Council, Yossi Dagan, who demonstrated with the families, demanded that Dan Harel ask for forgiveness: "Dan Harel, apologize now! It's no shame to say, 'Sorry, I was wrong.'"
"The residents of Samaria are citizens of this country just like anyone else." Head of the Samaria Council Yossi Dagan (archive), photo: Samaria Regional Council
"The residents of Samaria are citizens of this country just like anyone else. Our blood is no less red than anyone else's. We are one people and the residents of Samaria are fighting for the residents of the south, and the residents of the south are fighting for the residents of the north, and the residents of the north are fighting for the residents of Samaria. Where do people get this poison from? That hatred?"
Harel said in the studios that the October 7 disaster occurred because soldiers were transferred to protect residents of Judea and Samaria who are under daily shooting attacks.
Homesh during the disengagement, photo: Reuters
"This happened from a lethal combination of military unpreparedness. There is no warning, and intolerable pressure from the government to raise the maximum number of security forces to Judea and Samaria. In the end, when you are in Judea and Samaria and allow entry to Joseph's Tomb, for example, but you need a brigade to secure the several buses that enter, or to send a battalion and a half from the south to secure the sukkah of Sukkot that was inside Huwara, then you reach a situation where there are not enough forces. This is a serious mistake on the part of the army," Harel said.
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