Parents of murdered Oct 7 hostage urge Israelis to vote for parties backing official inquiry

The parents of murdered American-Israeli Oct. 7 hostage Itay Chen urged Israelis on Saturday to vote for political parties that publicly support establishing an official state commission of inquiry into the Hamas massacre, as the country heads toward elections in October.

Ruby and Hagit Chen made the appeal at the weekly anti-government rally in Habima Square in central Tel Aviv, where about 200 people gathered.

They criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government for failing to establish a state commission nearly three years after the Hamas attack and called on political parties to commit to investigating who knew about the impending attack, who failed to act and who bears responsibility.

“We’re not standing here to ask for pity. We’re here to demand answers,” Hagit Chen told the crowd.

“Who knew, who warned, who ignored, who’s responsible?” she continued.

“We call from here to every party and everyone that seeks the public’s trust in the election: Are you going to form a state commission of inquiry into the events of October 7? Yes or no?” Chen asked. “Whoever is unwilling to commit to seeking the truth – we call on you not to give them your vote."

Ruby Chen blasted the Netanyahu government’s failure to establish a state commission of inquiry, saying it “is an evasion from seeking the truth and taking responsibility.”

He accused the prime minister and other ministers of using fear-mongering tactics against opposition parties “in the hope we stop asking them what they actually did in the worst term a government has ever had here.”

“We’ll need to ask them time and again, where were you on October 7?” Chen asked. “What did you do that caused a quarter of a million Israelis to leave Israel?” he continued, referring to reports that a growing number of especially high-earning Israelis have left the country since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

Chen stressed that a state commission of inquiry “does not belong to this or that political camp,” arguing that it constitutes “the basis for our being able to live here with the knowledge that the lessons are being learned and the next disaster is being averted.”

He also urged the state to “recognize the new reality that October 7 created,” explaining that many Israeli families, including his own, suffered “psychological terrorism” while waiting for their living or dead family members to return home from captivity in Gaza. He lamented that the needs to these families are currently “not being addressed by the State of Israel.”

Netanyahu has so far refrained from publicly taking clear responsibility for the Oct. 7 disaster that occurred on his government’s watch. Government critics have argued that he seeks a politically appointed probe to protect himself and his senior ministers from responsibility for the Hamas attack.

Opposition parties have vowed to establish a state commission of inquiry if they win the election, which is scheduled for October.

Netanyahu has responded by arguing that such a commission would be biased against him because its members would be selected by the president of the Supreme Court.

Last month, the Knesset advanced a controversial bill to establish a political commission to investigate the Oct. 7 atrocities.

The bill, introduced by Likud lawmaker Ariel Kellner, calls for a supermajority of 80 of the Knesset’s 120 lawmakers to approve a six-member panel and chairman with powers to investigate the events surrounding the attack.

Critics have argued that such a commission would be guided by political considerations rather than professional fact-finding.