Bennett apologizes for mixing up name of critically wounded soldier

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett apologizes for making a mistake in the name of a critically wounded soldier when he called to check on the family.

The parents of 21-year-old Border Police officer Barel Hadaria Shmueli, who remains hospitalized in serious condition after he was shot in the head during violence along the Gaza border on Saturday, have heavily criticized the government’s behavior.

Border Police officer Barel Shmueli who was critically wounded in a shooting on the Gaza border on August 21, 2021. (Border Police)

And the PM has been embarrassed by widespread reports, backed up by a recording, that he accidentally called the wounded officer by the name Yossi when speaking to his father, whose name is Yossi.

“The mix-up between Barel’s name and his father’s name was a mistake, and I apologize for it from the bottom of my heart,” he says.