Bereaved father who fainted during Knesset clash: Is that our place? On the floor?

3 March 2025, 7:55 pm

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Shimon Buskila, a bereaved father who fainted during the earlier clash at the Knesset and was treated by medics, says he was “broken” by the violence that was displayed at the Knesset today against bereaved families and relatives of hostages and other victims of October 7.

“Fifteen months ago I was broken,” a tearful Buskila says in a video shortly after the clash. “I am fighting, struggling, working, trying to rehabilitate myself. I swore over Yarden’s grave that their deaths would not be in vain. And today they didn’t even let us go into [the gallery], 15 people. Tell me it’s not agenda-driven.

“Today I was broken. What more do I need to fight beyond the pain that I haven’t even had time to deal with, to realize I lost a son? I’m fighting all the time, [focusing on] commemoration — that has a healing effect on me. So today I came here to make a statement, and I’m entitled to make a statement, no matter what it is, and I was not allowed,” he says.

“Is this how bereaved families are treated? With us on the floor? Is that our place? How are we to stand on our legs?.”

Shimon’s son Yarden Buskila was killed in the Hamas-led assault on the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023.