From the Liveblog of
Monday, October 6, 2025
Deri calls for probe into anti-government protests, not ‘God-ordained’ October 7 attack
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Shas party chairman Aryeh Deri dismisses calls for a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 attack, attributing the surprise assault and subsequent Israeli security successes to divine providence.
While not a minister, the senior Haredi politician is a regular observer in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet and is closely involved in security issues.
In an interview with party newspaper HaDerech quoted by the Ynet news site, Deri asks if anybody can explain what happened on October 7, when “6,000 terrorists entered Israel” through a security barrier “that was supposed to be the strongest in the world.”
“You need to know that everything that happens is from the hand of God,” he says.
“No one can explain how it happened,” he insists, adding that during the subsequent military conflicts with Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, Israel saw “enormous miracles, there is no other explanation.”
Rather than probing October 7, it is necessary to establish a commission to investigate the funding of the regular anti-government protests on Tel Aviv’s Kaplan Street, which he claims “received support from the United States, from Biden’s Democratic administration, truly enormous sums.”
“We all know that when you want to organize a demonstration of tens of thousands of people, it costs millions: billboards, amplification systems, logistics,” he states.
The Times of Israel Community.