Members of the October Council, including former Gaza hostage Rom Braslavski, bereaved families, and residents of the Gaza border area and the North, arrived at the Knesset on Monday to protest at the opening of its summer session.
The group said its central mission in the coming months would be to ensure that the October 7 massacre and the government’s avoidance of responsibility remain at the center of the public agenda.
Braslavski spoke sharply at the press conference, describing his captivity and accusing elected officials of responsibility for the failures that enabled the massacre.
"I call on all Knesset members, everyone - just resign. Take responsibility and get out of our lives," Braslavski said.
"And just before you leave - appoint the state inquiry commission that will investigate exactly what happened here, so it doesn't happen again."
At the Knesset, the families said they would urge voters to make establishing a state commission of inquiry a condition for forming the next government. They said such a commission must be created on the first day of the next government’s term.
“Have any of you ever been clinically dead?” Braslavski said.
“Have you ever been malnourished, weighing 47 kilograms, while a 50-year-old Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist jumped on your neck and laughed? At Nova, there were [Hamas's] Nukhba [Force] terrorists, and here in the Knesset sit those responsible for what happened. Shame on you. The people of Israel have not been alive for a long time because you killed them.”
Additionally, the families moved between party faction meetings and demanded that party leaders sign a commitment to establish a state commission of inquiry. The October Council said the commission must examine all responsible bodies and stop what it described as the current government’s effort to obscure and conceal the failures.
The council said it would soon reveal additional actions planned by the families in the months leading up to election day. The campaign, it said, is intended to keep the October 7 massacre present in public life and political debate.
Michel Ilouz, father of Guy, who was murdered in Hamas captivity, addressed the question of responsibility and criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The prime minister gave an interview last night and said: ‘My problem with a commission of inquiry is that it goes up to October 7. What about since October 7? That was clearly my responsibility,’” Ilouz said. “Netanyahu, my son Guy was kidnapped alive and murdered in Hamas captivity. So are you admitting that his murder is your direct responsibility?”
Eyal Eshel, father of Roni Eshel, also criticized the government’s handling of the issue. “Government ministers say this was only a ‘tactical failure’ and that we are just playing the victims,” he said.
“My Roni is in the cemetery in Kfar Saba. Section six, row one, grave two. How can I not see the scale of the miracle there?” Eshel said. “When you go to the ballot box soon, remember the women who were raped, slaughtered, and murdered. Remember the female soldiers who were burned. Remember the children who did not come home. Remember my Roni.”
Nirit Baram, whose daughter Neta died on October 7, said the same people who failed were still running the country “as if nothing happened.”
“The same arrogance, the same conception, the same contempt, the same escape from responsibility,” Baram said. “Everything they have is devoted only to their political survival, to shifting responsibility, and of course to not investigating. Anything but a state commission of inquiry. Why? Because they know exactly what will be exposed there.”