October 7 survivors, bereaved families plan mass anti-government rally 3 days before election

The October Council, an organization of October 7 survivors, former hostages, and bereaved families critical of the government, will hold a massive rally three days before Israel’s October 27 election at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv.

The event, titled “In Three Days, We Vote for a State Commission of Inquiry!”, is meant as a call for a full investigation into the failures surrounding the Hamas-led October 7 attack by the country’s highest investigative authority. The group wants the issue to be at the center of the public agenda.

Opposition party leaders who support the establishment of a state commission of inquiry will speak at the rally, including Gadi Eisenkot, the leading anti-Netanyahu candidate and chair of the centrist Yashar party. Also speaking will be former prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, both of the B’yachad party, Avigdor Liberman of Yisrael Beytenu and Yair Golan, chairman of the Democrats.

The organizers describe the rally as the last major public event before the election and promise “surprises” during the event.

“Three years later,” states the Council, “we are not prepared to give up.”