Father of slain soldier: ‘Will fight to my last day’ for a state commission of inquiry into Oct. 7

Eyal Eshel, father of slain surveillance soldier Roni Eshel, says he “will fight to my last day” for the formation of a state commission of inquiry into the Hamas onslaught on October 7, 2023.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected such a commission — Israel’s highest investigative body — since it is appointed by the judiciary, which the premier claims is biased against him.

Speaking to thousands of protesters at the anti-government, pro-hostage deal rally on Tel Aviv’s Begin Road, Eshel accuses the government of trying to distort the catastrophe that happened under its watch — an effort that Eshel says is akin to denying the onslaught.

He also assails government efforts to appoint a “political whitewashing committee,” whose members would be chosen by the Knesset, to probe the Hamas atrocities.

“Those being investigated can’t pick their own investigators,” he says. “I won’t rest until a state commission of inquiry is founded, nothing else.”

He says the commission will have to probe whether the government missed chances to rescue hostages who came back dead.

“If Roni were here, she would have called out in a clear voice: Bring our brothers and sisters home now!” says Eshel.

The Begin Road protest has drawn thousands of people this week, who practically fill the stretch of the road from Kaplan to Shaul HaMelech streets — about double the turnout of recent weeks.

The demonstrators are set to be joined by the crowd from the Hostages Square rally, which typically strikes a less adversarial tone toward the government.