Prof. Ayelet Harel: Testimonies from the Border

The shock and horror of the days and weeks following October 7 did nothing to weaken the resolve of three researchers in different fields — law, political science, and social work — who undertook a unique joint mission of documentation. BGU political scientist Professor Ayelet Harel, retired district court judge Saviona Rotlevy, and Professor Shir Daphna-Tekoah of Ashkelon Academic College co-authored a first-of-its-kind report documenting the experiences of the female soldiers who served in forward command centers along the Gaza border, many of whom paid with their lives for glaring failures.

The mother of one of the soldiers killed at the Nahal Oz outpost told the researchers:
"How could they have abandoned them there? How could they have abandoned the entire Gaza border region? You must document this — it’s so important. The outpost was overrun, a military outpost with male and female soldiers, that was captured in just a few short hours. We must not mince words. Our duty and our moral responsibility to the next generation is to tell the story, to learn from it, and to correct what went wrong."

In the chaotic aftermath of the attacks, the three researchers launched an extensive documentation initiative. Despite their ongoing academic responsibilities and research commitments, Rotlevy, Daphna-Tekoah, and Harel devoted much of the following year to recording the experiences of female soldiers in forward command and surveillance centers during and after that horrific day, leading a broad and thorough documentation project.

The female lookouts in forward surveillance units along the border are the eyes on the ground for the combat soldiers. But almost immediately after the massacre, harsh accusations surfaced — claims that the lookouts and other female frontline command personnel failed in their duty to raise the alarm. "Given my years of academic research into female soldiers in general — and women in military war rooms specifically — this public criticism seemed, at best, puzzling," says Prof. Harel.

Since then, media coverage has revealed some of what in fact took place in those frontline command rooms. But that was only the tip of the iceberg — and much of what was circulated online was inaccurate or misleading. "We felt the subject demanded systematic and comprehensive documentation, presented through multiple perspectives,” says Harel.

“The main goal of the project was to give voice to the women who supported combat operations: those who survived, those who were discharged just before the war, as well as the families of those who were killed,” she explains. “Preserving the memories shared by the parents — of what their daughters had told them — is of vital importance. Their words offer a generational perspective, converging into a painful, crystal-clear picture. The public must hear this to draw lessons and prevent future disasters. The story of the women in these command centers is essential for understanding the broader failures of October 7."

"With no official state commission of inquiry to document these events, we felt compelled to step in.” Prof. Harel adds, “Throughout the writing process, we reflected on our roles as scholars and academics. One of the critical functions of social science researchers is to expose painful realities, to document and analyze them — and to provide tools for drawing lessons moving forward."

For example, what some in Israel’s political and military leadership may have failed to grasp, Hamas clearly understood: the forward command posts were of enormous strategic importance — and so were the women who operated them. That’s why, on that Saturday of October 7, Hamas focused its assault on those very posts, and on their surveillance systems.

One former lookout, now an officer, testified:
"In the end, in this context, my job in the army is to monitor screens, identify anomalies, and report them. What happens with those reports? That’s mostly out of our hands. I can influence, I can advise, I can express my opinion and try to push in a certain direction, but at the end of the day, the decisions are both political and military."

A key purpose of the project is to seek justice — not in the legal sense of assigning blame for the deaths or kidnappings of these soldiers, which is the role of a state commission of inquiry — but justice in the sense of making their voices heard, acknowledging their professionalism, and sparking a shift in how military service by women is perceived. It’s about ensuring that in the future, they and their warnings will be taken seriously.

Indeed, Harel believes that this documentation project, and the insights it generates, is crucial for the status of women in the IDF and for recognizing their contribution to national security. Making these findings public will allow the soldiers and their families to take part in both a personal and a national healing.

In contrast to the prevailing narrative about who was or wasn’t listened to, the researchers present a more complex, troubling picture — one that points to severe failures at both the political and military levels. "We hope this report will help piece together the puzzle," say the researchers. "To clarify what happened before and after October 7 and to contribute, even in a small way, to the healing of Israeli society."