In an election year, Netanyahu tries rewriting Israel鈥檚 Oct. 7 narrative
| Tel Aviv, Israel
It took 34 days for Israeli authorities to confirm to Eyal Eshel that his 19-year-old daughter Roni was killed after Hamas militants stormed and torched the army base near the Gaza border where she was stationed.
The attack, early on the morning of Oct. 7, 2023, was an opening salvo in the unprecedented assault that launched the devastating Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
Roni Eshel鈥檚 family was given back her dog tags, unscathed. Her rings, identity card, and driver鈥檚 license were eventually found in a home in Gaza. But her father is still missing details about how or when she was killed.
Why We Wrote This
The hostages, living and dead, are home, yet the war in Gaza is unfinished business for Israelis. As the country pivots toward election-year politics, how is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu鈥檚 refusal to authorize an independent state inquiry into Oct. 7 playing?
More than two years later, Mr. Eshel, like so many whose loved ones were among the 1,200 people killed on the deadliest day in Israel鈥檚 history, is still seeking answers. How did the government and vaunted army fail to anticipate the attack or prevent Roni鈥檚 base and the entire border area from being overrun?
鈥淭here are so many things that happened with so many questions we haven鈥檛 got answers for,鈥� Mr. Eshel says.
The 251 hostages taken that day, living and dead, are home or buried, yet the war in Gaza聽鈥� and the imperfect ceasefire currently in place聽鈥� are unfinished business for Israelis.
As Israel begins to turn toward election-year politics, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu鈥檚 refusal to authorize an independent inquiry into the failures of Oct. 7 is prompting a painful backlash.
What kind of inquiry?
In Mr. Eshel鈥檚 quest for answers from the nation鈥檚 leadership, he founded the October Council, a forum of bereaved and hostage families. It demands a state commission of inquiry into the failures surrounding the Oct. 7 attack and accountability from the political and military leadership under whose watch it happened.
Their demands are part of a broader national struggle over truth, responsibility, and, now, healing.
While a majority of the public is calling for an independent state commission of inquiry 鈥� long seen in Israel as the gold standard for confronting national failures 鈥� Mr. Netanyahu is lobbying for a politically appointed investigative committee.
The dispute reflects not only competing visions of how to examine the catastrophe, but competing efforts to shape the narrative of a national trauma that continues to shake Israel.
The very nature of a state commission of inquiry as an independent authority, whose members are appointed by the president of Israel鈥檚 Supreme Court, is meant to enable the public to learn the truth and trust its conclusions. To date, inquiries have been set up, including one investigating the lack of preparedness for the 1973 Middle East war, and another the 1982 massacre of Palestinians in two Beirut-area refugee camps perpetrated by 海角大神 militiamen under Israel鈥檚 watch.
鈥淚n Israeli history, major crises were investigated by public inquiry committees,鈥� says Gayil Talshir, a political scientist from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Israel needs to know what happened and what went wrong, she says, so as not to repeat the same mistakes.
Public opinion
Overall, public support for such an inquiry remains strong聽鈥� despite a decline among Jewish Israelis on the right, Mr. Netanyahu鈥檚 political base. According to a recent published by the Israel Democracy Institute, more than 55% of Israelis think such an inquiry is the most appropriate way to study the failures of Oct. 7. That figure was even higher, approaching 70%, in July 2024.
During the war, the government argued against a state commission, saying it would distract from the fight against Hamas. More recently, it proposed an alternative: a politically appointed committee, with Mr. Netanyahu leading a ministerial team that would determine its scope and methods.
In a statement on Feb. 5, Mr. Netanyahu said there is a need for an 鈥渆quitable national commission of inquiry鈥� that 鈥渞epresents all parts of the people鈥� and includes members appointed by the government and the opposition.
Mr. Netanyahu鈥檚 critics say he opposes an independent inquiry into Oct. 7 because he is continuing to distance himself and his government from the intelligence and operational disasters of that day. The prime minister has been accused of trying to whitewash events by reshaping the narrative.
By contrast, the heads of the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet, Israel鈥檚 internal security agency, both resigned in the attack鈥檚 aftermath, citing their failure to protect the Israeli public.
鈥淣etanyahu wants to establish a political commission of inquiry that will help him obscure the truth,鈥� says Yair Golan, a former major general in the IDF who heads the left-wing Democrats party. 鈥淗e wants those responsible for the Oct. 7 massacre to appoint the investigators themselves. Those under investigation cannot choose their own investigators 鈥� this is a severe conflict of interest.鈥�
Rewriting history?
Refusing to apologize or take any responsibility has intensified in this election year. Distancing himself has not sufficed, critics say of Mr. Netanyahu, so he is trying to change the narrative itself.
This month, Mr. Netanyahu released a that appears to cherry-pick excerpts from security deliberations before Oct. 7, casting him as seeking tough measures against Hamas over the reservations of his security chiefs.
Yoav Gallant, the defense minister at the time, said in reaction that the prime minister was lying and that his presentation of events was a 鈥渄istortion of reality.鈥�
In October, choosing an official name of the Gaza war, the Netanyahu government formally the name 鈥淭he War of Revival.鈥� Last week, his office that in the official name of a national memorial day commemorating Oct. 7, the word 鈥渕assacre鈥� be replaced with the word 鈥渆vents.鈥�
Both decisions elicited major blowback from members of the public who say it鈥檚 only more proof Mr. Netanyahu is intentionally downplaying the calamity.
Reports that the government might impose the wording of 鈥淲ar of Revival鈥� on the gravestones of fallen soldiers sparked outrage and vows of defiance from some of their parents.
鈥淢y son died not because he chose to be a hero, but because he was abandoned [by the state]. I am not prepared to let history be written incorrectly,鈥� a bereaved mother told Kaan, an Israeli public broadcaster.
What happened on Oct. 7, 2023, was a 鈥渕assacre,鈥� says Hila Abir, whose brother , an American Israeli, was among hundreds hunted down and killed at a music festival. Speaking at an anti-government rally in Tel Aviv last Saturday, Ms. Abir said that for those who lost their sibling, child, or home that day, 鈥渨ord games will not change what they know and what they feel.鈥�
Mr. Netanyahu, says Hebrew University鈥檚 Dr. Talshir, 鈥渨ants to be the narrator of the massacre ... and that is exactly why he doesn鈥檛 want a public inquiry.鈥�
鈥淭ime for accountability鈥�
Walking to the rally in Tel Aviv, childhood friends Dan Dimendberg and David Levitz, held Israeli flags.
鈥淎fter Oct. 7, once the hostages came back, now I think it is time for accountability,鈥� says Mr. Dimendberg. 鈥淟eaders who feel they can stand up to public scrutiny don鈥檛 try to block commissions of inquiry or try to set up their own.鈥�
Michal Sagi, also at the demonstration, charged that an inquiry of the kind the government is lobbying for, 鈥渨ould mean burying the truth.鈥�
The sentiment that the prime minister is trying to cover up the truth in an election year 鈥渉arms Netanyahu politically,鈥� says Mr. Golan. 鈥淭he broad public does not trust Netanyahu鈥檚 proposed political commission of inquiry. The people of Israel will not agree to whitewash the most horrific massacre in our history. We will not allow Netanyahu to escape responsibility,鈥� he says.
鈥淓stablishing a state commission of inquiry,鈥� continues Mr. Golan, 鈥渨ill be one of the first steps we take when we form a government. It is both a moral and a security obligation.鈥�
Mr. Eshel, Roni鈥檚 father, says he will not give up: 鈥淚n Israel, a state commission of inquiry is the only body that can give answers to the disaster and failure at such a scale.鈥�
He says he is prepared to hear the precise, painful details of what happened to his daughter, who served on the Nahal Oz base as a lookout, one of 53 soldiers from that post who were killed. Ten others were taken hostage.
鈥淚 will know how to handle it (the information) in the best possible way,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut let them at least tell me the truth.鈥�
Dina Kraft contributed from Washington.
