Latest news with #OctoberCouncil
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Majority of Israelis want a state probe of Oct. 7, think politics preventing one
Over 73% of Israelis think that an investigation, as it is defined by law, should be formed. A large majority of Israelis from across the political spectrum support the foundation of astate commission of inquiry into the events leading up to and including October 7, 2023, according to a poll commissioned by the October Council. The October Council is a forum of bereaved families who lost loved ones in the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, and has pushed for the formation ofa probe. Over 73% of Israelis think that an investigation, as it is defined by law, should be formed, according to the poll. Among right-wing voters, 64% said a state probe should be formed, while only 17% said that another type of probe should be set up by the political echelon. When looking at religious characteristics, 57% of observant respondents called for a state probe, and just 15.2% of this sector said the political echelon should form a probe. Some 71.6% of traditional Jews supported a probe, and 89.4% of secular Jews supported a probe. The only group among whom a majority did not support a state probe was the ultra-Orthodox. Almost 30% of this population supports a probe, while 27.8% support another probe decided on by the political echelon. Around 18% say a probe is not needed, while 24.5% say that they don't know. Asked why they think 'the government is not interested in founding a state commission of inquiry to examine the failure of October 7,' a majority of respondents (64.2%) said it is because of 'political reasons.' Some 25% said this is because of substantive reasons, and around 10% said they did not know. Among right-wing voters, 51% said the reasons the government has not established a probe are political. Some 47% of Israelis agreed 'very much' with the statement 'it is important for me that the party I vote for commits to forming a state commission of inquiry,' while 25.8% said that they 'agree somewhat' with this statement. Just 20.4% 'somewhat' did not agree or 'very much' did not agree with this statement. Some 44.3% of respondents said that if the bereaved families called on the public to join an increased fight for a state inquiry, they would do so. 38.2% said that they would not. 'The survey data confirms what we experience on the ground every day – an overwhelming majority of the Israeli public, across all its sectors, demands to know the truth,' the October Council said. 'This is not a political matter; it is a national and security matter. The government's refusal to establish a state commission of inquiry stems from political considerations, not substantive ones. The public sees this very clearly.' This type of investigation is the most powerful probe in the legal system and the only type that operates independently of the political echelon. Its members are appointed by the chief justice of the Supreme Court, and it has the power to subpoena witnesses and make personal recommendations regarding individuals. An inquiry into the events surrounding October 7 has repeatedly been blocked by the political echelon. The poll, conducted by Midgam for the October Council, was answered by 1,000 people who make up a representative sample, the October Council said. Eliav Breuer contributed to this report.
Irish Examiner
6 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Examiner
Families of hostages protest Netanyahu and demand end to conflict after 600 days
Marking the 600th day of the Israel-Gaza war, thousands of family members of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza have held protests across the country, blocking traffic and calling for a deal securing the release of their loved ones from captivity and an end to the conflict. '600 days we are without our loved ones, 600 days that Hamas is holding them captive, and the bloody Israeli government is abandoning them to maintain the integrity of their coalition,' the families said in a statement read by Keith Siegel, a former hostage, at a rally in Tel Aviv on Wednesday. 'Our families have become the victims of cheap politics at the hands of the prime minister,' they said. 'Instead of ending the war and bringing everyone home, he chose [finance minister Bezalel] Smotrich and [national security minister Itamar] Ben-Gvir, who prefer to occupy the Gaza Strip than to save the hostages.' The families of the hostages accused the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, of 'sentencing them to death' and called for his resignation. ''After such a long time, the government needs to be sent home to bring the hostages back home,' they said. Anat Angrest, whose son Matan Angrest was kidnapped by Hamas, said: 'I want to turn here to every mother and father: imagine standing next to me, giving everything for the state and the homeland, but being abandoned and forgotten. It can unfortunately happen to every one of us.' In a speech given at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, Arbel Yehoud, a freed hostage, said: ''The Israeli government stands before a single choice: saving lives or abandoning them.' The October Council – made up of 1,500 families of Israelis who were killed or captured in the October 7 massacre – protested on Wednesday morning outside the residence of the Knesset speaker, Amir Ohana, in Tel Aviv. The protesters demanded earlier elections and the establishment of a state commission of inquiry. The October Council submitted a bill proposal to Ohana, calling for a dissolution of the current Knesset. The proposal states that 'the government has turned its back on the families' and accused the cabinet of 'outright announcing that it will not investigate the greatest disaster the State of Israel has ever known'. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum sent a letter to the head of the Israeli hostage negotiating team, Ron Dermer, demanding his resignation and saying that since his appointment to the position not a single hostage had returned due to his efforts. A total of 251 people were taken hostage and about 1,200 killed by Hamas in its cross-border attacks on 7 October 2023. Since then, Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians. - The Guardian Read More Israeli government hits back as international pressure over Gaza mounts
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Knesset Guards Attack Hostages' Families Demanding Netanyahu Allow Oct. 7 Probe
Families whose loved ones were either killed or taken hostage during Hamas' 2023 attack arrived at Israel's parliament, the Knesset, on Monday to demand Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu establish a state investigation into the country's security failures — only for guards to beat them back with batons. The bereaved families came to the Knesset to watch elected officials, including Netanyahu, debate the creation of a commission to investigate how the militant group was able to carry out its deadly attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 people died, including members of the military, and around 250 were taken hostage. Most of the families on Monday belonged to the October Council, a group that includes captives' loved ones, Oct. 7 survivors and hostages who have since been freed. The group joins many other Israelis in calling for their government to establish such a commission – which Netanyahu has blocked – and expressing frustration with the prime minister, who they claim has prioritizedhis political careerover the remaining hostages' safety. 'Mr. Prime Minister, you and your government have yet to take responsibility. So many civilians are asking for forgiveness, and so few politicians are asking for forgiveness,' recently freed hostage Yarden Bibas wrote in a letter read aloud on the Knesset's floor by lawmaker Chili Tropper. The letter said that 83% of Israeli citizens want a state commission, including the October Council's 1,500 families. 'I am constantly thinking and regretting that I did not protect my wife and children better. It eats me up inside. I only had a gun and I am a simple citizen in a quiet kibbutz,' Bibas, whose family died in captivity, continued. 'Do you think about this? Do you also find it difficult to spend days and nights without a heavy sense of responsibility for what happened?' Security guards blocked the families from entering the Knesset chamber's public gallery, agitating the crowd holding photos of their loved ones and turning the interaction into a shouting match. Eventually, the guards attacked them. Footage from journalists who were at the scene, like Haaretz, showed people screaming as guards shoved them to the ground and beat some with batons. Security reportedly dragged hostage Matan Angrest's father across the floor and threw his grandfather down the stairs. A man whose child was killed in the Nova music festival attack fainted. 'The violence directed at us is unacceptable. Today we also feel the government violence on our bodies, the same violence that tries to prevent us from answering for the failure that led to the deaths of our loved ones,' the October Council said, according to a Hebrew translation. 'The speaker of the Knesset should resign today. By his order, bereaved families are now being beaten by the Knesset Guard,' it continued. 'The entire State of Israel is ashamed.' Neither the prime minister's office nor spokespeople for the Knesset immediately responded to HuffPost's request for comment. Knesset Chairman Amir Ohana later allowed the families to enter the viewing gallery before ordering that they be kicked out for turning their backs to the chamber floor in protest. But demonstrators still witnessed Netanyahu spiral into anger over the demands for an inquiry — accusing the media and opposition leaders of spreading a 'false campaign' that 'the government is sabotaging the [ceasefire] deal.' 'We demand the establishment of an objective, balanced, independent, non-politically biased investigative committee — not a committee whose conclusions are known in advance, have already been written and not without variety,' the prime minister shouted. 'And not a narrow range of opinions of a quarter of a millimeter that are all concentrated at one end of the political network.' Netanyahu's tirade was shouted down by opposition leaders, to whom the prime minister responded, 'You with your shouts, cannot hide the truth.' Opposition leader Yair Lapid described Netanyahu's speech as 'a spectacle not easy to watch.' 'The State of Israel is strong? You are responsible for the greatest disaster of the Jewish people since the Holocaust,' Rabbi Gilad Kariv, a Knesset member for the Democrats, an opposition party, yelled at Netanyahu before telling him to visit the kibbutz of Nir Oz, which was devastated in Hamas' attack. Protesters gathered outside Ohana's home in Tel Aviv Monday night, in addition to the demonstrations Israelis have regularly held calling on the government to end the war in Gaza and bring home the remaining hostages. 'One thing is clear: nothing will deter us. We are wounded animals, and wounded animals are not to be messed with,' the October Council said. 'We will continue to fight, the truth about the deaths of our loved ones and what led to it will be revealed. The day is coming when we will call on the public to join us in this just struggle.'
