We’ve now entered the stage of the IDF equipment saga where additional small shreds of the truth have begun to come to the surface. During an open session of discussion regarding the abysmal performance of the IDF to deliver equipment to its soldiers, MK Moshe Tur-Paz brought to light a recent situation in which a reserve soldier was killed with a faulty ceramic plate that was not to standard.
Here is a rough English translation of what MK Tur-Paz had to say (thank you to OK):
All reserve battalions almost without exception say the following, and I wrote everything down so that things would be laid out in front of you as well.
They talk about the most basic things, a helmet. "I have a helmet but the regular soldier has a tactical helmet, and I have older helmet. Less reliable and less convenient."
Comfort is not a privilege, comfort in the end means that after 10 or 20 or 30 hours someone takes off their helmet and then they get hit by a sniper's bullet.
Ceramic plates, people say, we go in with a vest and I don't have corrective ceramic.
And I want to tell you, sir, a hard sentence. But I said it and I'll be back here. A reservist from Shura camp called me, he asked not to reveal his name of course and his position.
He said to me, "There is a soldier here who was killed in the last few weeks, his plates came apart from a bullet.
In other words, fragments of it were found inside the body of an IDF soldier.
So he told me, I only have one conclusion and I'm not a professional but this plate was not a suitable plate.
So now they say no, we won't take donations so what, the second option was to be without.
This is what happens...
IDF General Tamir Yadai infamously banned donations and threatened to punish soldiers that accepted donations.
IDF Spokesman Daniel Hagari infamously lied about the readiness of the IDF forces and declared that “no equipment was lacking” and soldiers just needed to “be patient.”
FIDF National Chairman Nadav Padan infamously dismissed the pleas of desperate soldiers to receive proper, safe equipment. He likened requests for safe helmets to a spoiled college child asking for a new car when he has a suitable car as his disposal.
The warriors on the front-lines of Israel are complete heroes. They are fighting with or without proper equipment. The least we can do is help them maximize the chance of returning home on their own two feet and not in a coffin.
The fact that there is an open discussion about a soldier dying in sub-standard equipment is an important first step toward providing the proper equipment to the soldiers in need. Let’s hope that more of the truth is put into the public square and we can begin to advance solutions that deal with the root of the problems.
The reality is going to be painful and scarring. But it is necessary for the current and future soldiers of the IDF.