Hundreds of thousands of Israelis reported to reserve duty following Hamas’ surprise attack on October 7th.
It was soon abundantly clear that there was a severe shortage of equipment. Rather than wait for the IDF or Ministry of Defense to supply hundreds of thousands of vests or helmets, soldiers and concerned friends and family took to social media to begin raising money to fill the gaps.
However Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the head spokesman for the IDF, took to the air on October 9th, 2023 and publicly declared that everything was fine and there were no shortages at all:
The subject of shortages in equipment, food, and vests has been brought up in the media and on social media. I want to clarify this: the IDF is not experiencing a shortage of equipment. Anyone who is conducting operational activities in the IDF is provided with combat equipment; anyone who is currently conducting operational activities in Gaza has combat equipment. Anyone who will be conducting operational activities in Gaza will have priority in receiving equipment. So anyone who is lacking equipment now will be receiving everything they require.
To the public who is sending food and collecting donations, it is heartwarming to see you embracing the reservists and the IDF as a whole, but the IDF has combat equipment; everyone will receive it. Please be patient.
This was clearly a lie. The IDF was not prepared for a potentially multi-faced war that would last close to a year. Nor is it a fair expectation to ask the IDF to have 500,000 helmets and vests sitting in a temperature controlled storage facility 24/7/365.
However this initial misdirection subverted dozens of attempts by private individuals to raise money for the soldiers on the front lines. It was a common refrain for individuals and organizations to say that they “heard from the IDF that everything was ok.”
Key Questions:
Who gave this directive to Rear Adm. Hagari to declare that there were no shortages in the IDF?
How does the IDF define “combat equipment” and is there a clear standard for testing every piece of equipment in the army?
How does the army define “operational activities” within the IDF?
Was there an attempt by the IDF and MOD to streamline the donation process?
If there was an attempt to streamline the donation process - why? Why would there be a need for donations if there were no gaps?
Why did members of Knesset and other elected officials help raise funds if there were no gaps?