Families of Nova victims tear shirts at Knesset over failure to erect memorial for them
Meanwhile, brother of hostage is barred from parliament building despite invitation from MK, after being ousted last week for interrupting another hostage’s brother
At a meeting in the Knesset on Monday, several family members of those killed at the Nova music festival on October 7 tore their shirts — a traditional Jewish act of mourning — in protest of the fact that little work has been done to create a memorial to their loved ones.
The bereaved relatives were at the Knesset for a lobby session in memory of the 364 people mowed down at the Nova festival, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists burst through the Gaza border, wreaking death across southern Israel.
For months, the bereaved families have petitioned the government to turn the site of the massacre, in the fields of Kibbutz Re’im, into a permanent memorial to honor the memories of those murdered. Currently a temporary memorial exists at the site, with photos, candles and ceramic anemones honoring the dead — the vast majority of them young people in their 20s and 30s.
But little progress has been made on a more permanent monument.
Monday’s lobby meeting was convened by Yesh Atid MK Karine Elharrar in the hopes of moving the process along before the makeshift memorial at the massacre site becomes further eroded by time.
The meeting was also attended by MK Yitzhak Pindrus of United Torah Judaism and Labor MK Efrat Rayten.
“We lost our children, the most precious thing. You could not keep them safe,” charged Shimon Buskila, who lost his son Yarden on October 7. “And now for the last nine months, there has been no progress, nothing is happening.”
“I feel like I’m on the first day of shiva [the seven-day Jewish mourning period], and that’s why I have torn my shirt,” he added.
“All I’m asking is for someone to take responsibility,” pleaded Hadas Shemel, who took in her older sister Sharon Hirsch’s three children after she was killed at the music festival.
On October 7, “the worst thing happened. Death hit us with all its force,” Sigal Manzuri told the committee, recounting what she knew of the final moments of her daughters Norelle and Roya, who were both murdered, along with Norelle’s partner Amit Cohen, when Hamas terrorists threw hand grenades into the tightly packed shelter they were hiding in after fleeing the festival.
“On October 9 we buried Amit, on October 12 we buried Roya, and on October 15, Norelle,” Manzuri said, making her request for government action.
Voicing support for the demand for a state-backed memorial, Elharrar said at the end of the session: “Many families are trying to deal with the void that has opened up in their lives, through commemorating their loved ones, while the state is once again absent, failing to manage the issue of an official commemoration and failing to make contact with the families.
“Lack of trust… is causing more power struggles within the government and creating a vacuum that has left families hanging. It’s hindering policy and preventing long-term planning,” she added.
Recommitting herself to the families’ cause, Elharrar told them that the lobby “is not giving up on you, and a proper commemoration from the state for your loved ones.
“We will continue to act and fight for you,” she said.
Outside the Knesset, meanwhile, Danny Elgarat staged a protest of his own after he was barred entry to the government building despite being invited by MK Mickey Levy (Yesh Atid)
Elgarat, whose brother Itzik is held hostage in Gaza, was removed from a committee meeting last week after he interrupted the brother of another hostage who was speaking out against making a deal with Hamas. After a verbal altercation with members of the committee, Elgarat was dragged out and was later photographed receiving medical attention while lying face down in the committee hallway.
He returned to the Knesset on Monday, however, with an invitation from Levy but was nevertheless blocked from entering. In response, he sat down on the floor of the foyer and refused to budge.
Elgarat said he was told he needed to draft a letter of apology for his previous behavior and commit not to disrupt Knesset proceedings before being allowed to return to parliament.
He was joined by Levy, along with Labor chair MK Yair Golan and party MKs Na’ama Lazimi and Gilad Kariv, who blocked passage through the security checkpoint and appealed to members of the opposition to take part in their protest.
“After being forcibly removed from the… committee last week, Danny Elgarat is not allowed to enter the Knesset today. Is this the attitude toward the families of hostages? This is the attitude toward those whom the state has abandoned,” Golan wrote on X.
הסירוב של משמר הכנסת להכניס את דני אלגרט, אחיו של החטוף איציק אלגרט, לכנסת מגיע מלמעלה. מגיע הישר ממי שרוצים כנסת נאמנת שלטון שלא ישמעו בה דברי אמת וביקורת על המחדל וההפקרה.
במדינה מתוקנת, משפחות חטופים לא צריכות להיאבק בשביל להחזיר את היקרים להן ולא צריכים להתחייב מראש להשמיע… pic.twitter.com/CySFOh9KBb
— ???? Naama Lazimi – נעמה לזימי (@naamalazimi) July 15, 2024
“The Knesset guards’ refusal to admit Danny Elgarat, the brother of hostage Itzik Elgarat, to the Knesset, comes from above,” Lazimi charged on X. “It comes directly from those who want a Knesset that is loyal to the government and one that won’t hear the truth, or criticisms of failure and abandonment.”
The incident marked the second time that Elgarat has been blocked from returning to the Knesset since the confrontation last week. Two days after he was removed, Elgarat came back but was refused entry after already passing through security and being given a visitor’s tag.
Sam Sokol contributed to this report.
