Protesters, joined by opposition leaders, gather at Habima to demand ‘state commission of inquiry now’

Some 2,000 protesters pack into Tel Aviv’s Habima Square to demand a state commission of inquiry into failures surrounding the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, after the government on Sunday voted to establish its own inquiry instead of a statutory state commission that would have been led by the judiciary.

The Habima protest is organized for the second straight week by the October Council, which brings together families who lost loved ones in the October 7 attack and are demanding a state probe.

A large screen on the Square’s eastern side, on which speeches will be broadcast, shows the names and pictures of some of the October Council’s slain loved ones, with questions about the circumstances of their death. On either side of the screen are large banners demanding “a state commission of inquiry now,” emblazoned with the October Council’s name and slogan, “truth and security.”

In attendance at the protest are representatives of disparate organizations, including The Democrats and Yesh Atid parties, the anti-corruption watchdog Movement for Quality Government, anti-government reservist and veteran groups and left-wing activists who stand in silence along the square’s western side holding candles and clutching placards with pictures and names of children killed by Israel in Gaza since the October 7 attack.

The protest seeks to unite Zionist opposition parties behind the demand for a state commission. A column of protesters marching in from Kaplan Road carries a large banner reading, “Wanted: a strong, united opposition.”

Referring to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, they chant: “It’s time to topple the tyrant.”

Five leaders of the Zionist opposition are at the rally: right-wing former prime minister Naftali Bennett, who is mounting a run for Netanyahu’s seat; ex-IDF chief Benny Gantz, head of the centrist Blue and White party; former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot, who broke away from Blue and White to establish a new party called Yashar!; Yesh Atid head and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid; and The Democrats chief, former IDF deputy chief Yair Golan. Avigdor Liberman, head of the hawkish Yisrael Beytenu faction, is absent.

The crowd cheers for each of the opposition leaders in attendance as the MC, bereaved father and former Beit Shean mayor Rafi Ben Shitrit of the October Council, reads their names. Gantz, who joined Netanyahu’s government after the October 7 attack, also draws some jeers.

Right-wing youth start yelling at attendees and getting into shoving matches with some of them as the rally kicks off. They are pushed slightly back by the police and continue jeering and whistling.