‘We can start a different story’: Masses in Tel Aviv demand Oct. 7 inquiry, days before election

Masses of Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday night as part of an anti-government demonstration, days before the October 27 general election, with protesters calling for a commission of inquiry into the failures surrounding Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught.

The protest, held under the title, “In Three Days, Vote for a State Commission of Inquiry,” was organized by the October Council, an organization of October 7 survivors, former hostages, and bereaved families critical of the government. It was held at the square outside Tel Aviv’s Museum of Art, which became known following the Hamas attack as Hostages Square. Weekly rallies were held there in solidarity with hostage families and their kidnapped loved ones during the war.

People from across the country crammed into the square and overflowed onto nearby streets. The packed crowd was dotted with Israeli flags, many emblazoned with the words “Hofshi Beartzenu” (Free in our Land), the name of an anti-government protest group. Organizers said over 100,000 took part. There was no assessment on numbers from police.

Elhanan Danino, whose son Ori was one of six hostages murdered in Hamas captivity in late August 2024, suggested the government hadn’t probed the Hamas-led attack because it had “something to hide.”

“A little over three years after that bitter and terrible day on which our sons and daughters, our brothers and sisters, were abducted, massacred, burned, raped and murdered, the leadership has still not made the decision to carry out the most important and necessary thing — an investigation into the truth,” Danino said at the protest.

“Whoever evades forming a state commission of inquiry probably has a reason,” he said. “It’s been three years, and they still haven’t found the time to form even a parliamentary or governmental commission of inquiry, probably because there’s something to hide.”

With the election just three days away, speakers urged people at the rally to vote on Tuesday.

Israelis often wish each other a “good week” on Saturday night, after Shabbat ends. Danino said he hadn’t been able to wish that to anyone since his son was abducted three years ago.

“But I’ll wish us all a week of good news,” he added to applause.

Viki Cohen, whose son Nimrod was abducted on October 7 and released last October, said she wouldn’t “let the truth about what happened on October 7 be buried like my son was buried underground, in dark tunnels, for two years.

“The heads of the security establishment [who failed] have left — now it’s time for the political echelon to take responsibility,” she added.

Standing alongside about two dozen people affected by the onslaught, including former hostages Yocheved Lifshitz and Gadi Mozes, Cohen appealed to the public: “When you go to the polls, remember everyone — those who were abducted, who were murdered, who fell in battle; survivors of the massacre, the wounded in body, in mind; the families whose lives collapsed.”

Meanwhile, Mali Zender, mother of Noa Zender, who was murdered by Hamas terrorists at the Nova music festival, recounted the pain of losing her daughter, but emphasized, “Tonight I am not standing here just to tell about my personal pain, because the massacre that took place here is not a private tragedy — it is the greatest national disaster in the history of the country.”

“I stand here three days before the most fateful elections of our entire lives here, and I am not asking you to vote for one candidate or another. First and foremost, I am asking you to go out and vote, to do what our children cannot do themselves and vote on their behalf as well — to choose responsibly,” Zender said.

The election frontrunner and main rival to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Yashar party chairman Gadi Eisenkot, participated in the protest and was greeted with enthusiastic cheers and chants from the crowd of “Who’s coming? The next prime minister.”

Other leaders of the anti-Netanyahu bloc, including Democrats party chairman Yair Golan, Yisrael Beytenu head Avigdor Liberman, B’Yachad chief Naftali Bennett and the party’s No. 2 Yair Lapid, were also in attendance.

Golan led supporters of his left-wing party in a march from Rabin Square to the larger protest at Hostages Square.

“Starting this coming Wednesday, we will work to establish a state commission of inquiry that will bring the truth to light and do justice to the families,” Golan said of the day after the election. “This is our duty. This is our mission. We will rehabilitate, build and repair. This is our calling.”

Netanyahu’s Likud party petitioned the Central Elections Committee on Thursday in an attempt to prevent the rally from being broadcast on major TV channels, arguing that it constituted “election propaganda.”

Committee chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg rejected the request, citing a lack of sufficient factual basis.

A state commission of inquiry is Israel’s highest investigative authority, with unique power to investigate national disasters, subpoena witnesses, and issue personal recommendations that can end political careers. It is established by government decision, but acts independently of it, and comprises experts selected by the judiciary.

Netanyahu has refused to establish such an inquiry into the October 7 disaster, arguing that an independent panel appointed by the Supreme Court would be biased against the government.

A state commission of inquiry into the failings surrounding the massacre has been a major demand of families of victims and others since the attack took place, and opposition parties have vowed to set one up should they gain power.

Several families of October 7 victims plan to stand outside polling stations on Tuesday with pictures of their loved ones, aiming to ensure voters remember those who were murdered and taken hostage, and those who fell in battle.

First-time voter Naama Bitterman, 18, said at Saturday’s rally that she was confident the anti-Netanyahu bloc she supports would have the upper hand in the vote and improve Israel’s international standing, tarnished by three years of war in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran and surging violence in the occupied West Bank.

“I think that if we win — and we’re going to win — we can change how other people in the entire world see us,” she told AFP.

Eyal Eshel, whose daughter Roni was among 16 surveillance soldiers killed at the IDF’s Nahal Oz base on October 7, told the demonstrators: “No one has taken responsibility to this day. I want to remind everyone that this was the greatest disaster in the history of the State of Israel.

“How is it possible that those who are required to provide answers want to decide for themselves who will investigate? Is this what accountability looks like? I am a bereaved and broken father, but I am also a father who will never stop fighting for the truth.”

Former hostage Danielle Aloni, who was taken with her children to Gaza and released after 49 days, said: “On that day, it wasn’t just people who were taken from us. We were also robbed of the basic sense of security that allows us to wake up in the morning, send our children to kindergarten or school, and know they will come home.”

Of Tuesday’s vote, she said, “I cannot give [my daughter] Emilia back the childhood that was taken from her, but I can fight for the childhood that still lies ahead of her. In three days, we can start writing a different story for our children.”