Knesset speaker: October 7 ‘one of the most horrific manifestations of evil in history’

Hamas’s October 7 massacre was “one of the most horrific manifestations of evil in history,” Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana declares at a pre-Memorial Day ceremony, adding that the only way to be worthy of the sacrifice of the fallen is to banish “the cursed virus of strife and hatred from the country.”

Speaking at Yad Labanim, an organization representing bereaved families, Ohana says that the Hamas attack “reminded us of things we wanted to forget. Things about which we swore ‘Never Again.’ And yet, for a whole day, they happened to us more, and more, and more.”

“Many hundreds of brave soldiers, whose whole future was ahead of them, were lost to us this year in the storm of battle. Hundreds more of civilians were murdered in medieval brutality by neighbors bathed in bloodlust, for whom there is no forgiveness and will never be,” he says.

“We will be worthy of them when we send away the cursed virus of strife and hatred from the country. We will be worthy of them when we make it clear to all our enemies: the State of Israel is strong. The IDF is strong. Israeli society is strong and together we will win,” he says.

Ohana is currently caught up in a dispute with Transportation Minister Miri Regev regarding his role in Monday evening’s Independence Day torch-lighting ceremony and has instructed the Knesset Guard not to cooperate in preparations for the annual event.