From the Liveblog of
Monday, October 12, 2026
Bereaved father says Israel ‘governed by lies,’ decries threats for criticism of Oct. 7 failures
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleAriela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.
Eyal Eshel, whose daughter Roni was among 16 surveillance soldiers killed at the IDF’s Nahal Oz base on October 7, 2023, accuses the state and military of repeatedly lying to bereaved families and says he has received death threats over his criticism of the government’s failures.
“We’re not in a country governed by law — we’re governed by lies,” Eshel tells the “Law and Lies” conference in Tel Aviv. “I’m on a mission, and Roni entrusted me with the mission of making things right.”
Ahead of the Hamas-led invasion and massacre, surveillance soldiers, mainly young women, at Nahal Oz repeatedly warned that terrorists were training for an attack, but their warnings were dismissed.
“I am tormented by the fact that I wasn’t the person who came to save her,” Eshel says. “Nobody came to save them because they were lied to. And through all of this, I’m saying that we’re still being lied to today.”
Since October 7, Eshel has been attacked online and threatened with murder, largely by government supporters targeting bereaved families who criticize the handling of the disaster. Police located and questioned one man who threatened him, he says, but released him with a mere order to stay away from the Eshels’ home for 21 days.
He adds that he has seen “three years full of fake news. They keep lying to us, and it’s gaining momentum.”
“I didn’t create this — the state did. We’re a corrupt country. We lie to the whole world. Almost the whole world can’t stand us because we lie,” Eshel says.
Campaigning for a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 failures, whose establishment Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has resisted, the bereaved father says: “I want the truth to come to light. I want to make clear to everyone that the mirror is shattered; it can’t be repaired, it has to be replaced. I hope that happens.”
Urging voters to choose leaders who tell the truth, Eshel says he will continue fighting to ensure that “the whole world knows that we failed on October 7.”
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