Opposition assails government for ignoring 1,000th day since Oct. 7 while advancing divisive legislation

Opposition lawmakers slam the government for seemingly failing to mark 1,000 days since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught while pressing ahead with contentious legislation to shield Haredi draft evaders and weaken the role of the attorney general.

Yesh Atid MK Yoav Segalovitz calls the lack of any official commemoration “a criminal attempt to erase the massacre and the failure from the public agenda.”

Across Israel, bereaved families, survivors, and relatives of the former hostages are marking 1,000 days since the massacre with ceremonies and protests, including renewed calls for a state commission of inquiry into the attacks — something that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has never accepted explicit responsibility for the attacks, has refused to establish despite broad public support.

The Knesset has made no official acknowledgment of the date, instead hosting an exhibition marking the 250th anniversary of American independence ahead of the Fourth of July.

“This morning should have begun by marking 1,000 days since the massacre,” says Democrats MK Gilad Kariv at the Knesset Constitution Committee as it debates legislation to curtail the powers of the attorney general — one of Israel’s few checks on executive power.

Instead, he notes that the Knesset entrance includes an “exhibit celebrating 250 years of American independence, with no mention whatsoever of the 1,000th day.”

“The fact that on this day we are convening for yet another discussion of this bill shows that you have learned nothing,” he adds, accusing the government of pushing ahead with the very legislation that “destroyed us” and led to enormous division before October 7.

At the same time, the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is debating highly contentious legislation to freeze arrests and enforcement against draft evaders.

Yesh Atid MK Matti Sarfati Harkavi tells the committee she wanted to spend the day with bereaved families today but couldn’t, “because I have to be here defending the blood of my children and grandchildren.”

The coalition is trying to blitz through several pieces of legislation ahead of entering its pre-election recess, amid reports that Netanyahu reached an agreement with the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties to advance key Haredi legislative priorities in exchange for supporting coalition initiatives such as the bills regarding the attorney general, although both parties have denied that such a deal exists.