Bereaved families clash outside High Court as justices hear petitions on Oct. 7 commission of inquiry

Bereaved families of the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion and the subsequent war engage in mutual recriminations outside the High Court of Justice this morning, shortly before a hearing on petitions demanding that the government establish a state commission of inquiry into the catastrophic attack begins.

Bereaved families supportive of the government shout at those demanding a state commission of inquiry, saying they are trying to “whitewash” the October 7 attack, and accuse them of “having opened the gates to the massacre,” Channel 12 reports.

Says one of the pro-government protesters, “You are the ones who tied the hands of our soldiers and freed the hands of the enemy,” reflecting right-wing claims that the High Court has in the past restrained the IDF, which they claim enabled the Hamas invasion.

Eyal Eshel, the father of Roni Eshel, a surveillance soldier who was killed on October 7 on the Nahal Oz base, says he “came to support the justices of the Supreme Court.”

“This is your job, this is why you are sitting here in Jerusalem. After long months, there is no more room for tears, no more room for cover-ups, the time has come for the historic verdict. The prime minister chooses again and again the path of division, the prime minister chose civil war, this is what it looks like here this morning.”

The government has refused to establish a state commission of inquiry into the events of October 7, claiming it would not objective since its members are chosen by Supreme Court President Isaac Amit, whom the justice minister and other ministers do not recognize as the head of the court.

Opponents of the government point out that a state commission is the only completely independent form of inquiry that has true investigative powers and is not connected to the political leadership, and reject the government’s efforts to establish an inquiry whose members are appointed by politicians.

תיעוד: עימות בין מפגינים, בהם הורים שכולים, מחוץ לביהמ"ש העליון – לקראת הדיון בבג"ץ בעתירות הדורשות הקמת ועדת חקירה@almog_tamar pic.twitter.com/M6NDpaD1CL

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) April 23, 2026