Bereaved father interrupts PM's court hearing with demand for state Oct. 7 inquiry

Yoram Yehudai, whose son Ron was killed at the Nova festival, says Netanyahu has refused to meet him, but he will ‘pursue’ premier until an impartial panel is established

The father of a man killed at the Nova festival interrupted a hearing at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s criminal trial on Wednesday and said that he would “pursue” the premier until there was a state commission of inquiry into Israel’s failures before, during and after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, onslaught.

“I am Yoram, father of Ron Yehudai who was murdered at Nova. I have requested to meet with you, but you refuse,” Yoram Yehudai shouted at the prime minister.

“I will pursue you until you establish a state commission of inquiry. That should be clear to you,” he added, before he was removed from the courtroom by security guards.

Bereaved families and opposition lawmakers have accused the government of working to absolve itself of any responsibility for the October 7 failures.

The government has long opposed the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into the catastrophe, originally on the grounds that such an inquiry could not be conducted while Israel was at war, but later due to accusations that the Supreme Court could not be trusted to appoint a fair-minded judge or retired judge to head the panel.

The government is considering establishing and appointing its own panel to investigate the catastrophic Hamas invasion, as well as the lead-up to it and the subsequent war, instead of an impartial state commission of inquiry.

Burnt cars are left behind at the site of the massacre three days earlier by Palestinian terrorists on the Supernova desert music festival near Kibbutz Re’im in the Negev desert in southern Israel, on October 10, 2023. (Jack Guez/AFP)

In a statement after he was ejected, Yehudai said the October Council — an organization representing hundreds of bereaved families, including relatives of hostages, residents of border communities, and survivors of the 2023 onslaught — would escalate its fight for an independent probe.

“We will be everywhere, the October Council will go everywhere. To the squares, the streets and the courthouse. We will escalate our struggle, and what you have seen so far is nothing compared to the continuation of our battle,” he said.

“I will not give up, for Ron’s sake,” he said, adding that he will not accept the validity of a committee appointed by the government instead of an impartial state commission of enquiry “that will investigate everyone and everything.”

Netanyahu has avoided taking any responsibility for the massacre, repeatedly asserting that the security establishment — not political leaders — failed to prevent the deadliest attack in Israel’s history.

Ron Yehudai, 24, from Yehud, attended the Nova festival with a large group of friends, and when the attack began, he hid in a large trash dumpster. Hamas gunmen discovered them and opened fire, murdering Ron and eight others.

Polls show a majority of the Israeli public believes there should be a state commission of inquiry.

The High Court of Justice told the government on October 15 that there is “no real argument” against the need to establish a state commission of inquiry in its decision over petitions demanding the establishment of such an inquiry. It gave the government 30 days to submit a new update about “the fate” of such a commission.

On October 22, the Knesset State Control Committee voted down a proposal to establish a state commission of inquiry into the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack, blocking the latest opposition-led effort.