Father of slain hostage says state commission of inquiry into Oct. 7 ‘not a tool to topple the government’

Michel Illouz, father of slain hostage Guy Illouz, says a state commission of inquiry into the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, “is not vengeance, not a tool to topple the government.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects such a commission because its members would be picked by the judiciary, which he claims is biased against him. But Illouz says the commission is “a democratic country’s way of saying, ‘a disaster happened here, we need to understand why’.”

Illouz makes the remarks at the Movement for Quality Government’s weekly protest at Tel Aviv’s Habima Square, with about 150 people in attendance.

He says the demand for a state commission “also links to” the wider theme of the protest, “the identity of Israeli protest.”

“We can’t dismantle the checks and balances that ensure the government also abides by the law,” says Illouz.

“For me, this isn’t a televised debate, and it’s not a civics lesson. It’s my life and it’s my son. Guy should have been here tonight,” continues Illouz, as his voice cracks.

“I ask one basic thing: Give us the truth. Give us accountability. Give us answers,” he says. “I can never bring my Guy back. I wish I could. I can only speak in his name and demand the truth isn’t buried with him.”

As usual at the Saturday night rallies, protesters and counterprotesters clash at a street corner next to Habima Square, where right-wing provocateur Mordechai David arrives with a handful of supporters. Police try to break up the confrontation.

Officers arrested two people following the protest “on suspicion of mutual assault,” and “the circumstances are being investigated,” police say.

The Protest Detainee Legal Support Front, a group of lawyers who represent anti-government protesters pro bono, says a protester was detained after a “regime thug” falsely yelled, “he’s attacking me.”

The lawyer group identifies the accuser as Eliran Simantov, who in July gained notoriety with a video of himself berating veteran comic actor Moni Moshonov near Habima Square for “refusing to die” and satirizing Jewish and Zionist history on the Kan public broadcaster’s “The Jews Are Coming.”

Simantov in May also allegedly spat at former prime minister Ehud Olmert, a fierce Netanyahu critic, outside the Tel Aviv Cinematheque, which is down the road from Habima.

???? זו המשמרת שלנו! חודש וחצי לבחירות – אסור להישאר בבית ואסור לוותר על האמת.

הערב בכיכר הבימה חיברנו בין המאבקים שיקבעו כיצד תיראה מדינת ישראל ביום שאחרי הבחירות: הגנה על הדמוקרטיה ועל טוהר הבחירות, הקמת ועדת חקירה ממלכתית, שוויון אמיתי בנטל ושמירה על עצמאות שומרי הסף.

הבחירות… pic.twitter.com/E8STd9kNnB

— התנועה לאיכות השלטון (@MovGov) September 5, 2026