Slain hostage’s parents urge public only back parties vowing state Oct. 7 probe

The parents of slain hostage Itay Chen called on the public to vote only for parties that pledge to form a state commission of inquiry into the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023, as hundreds rallied in Tel Aviv for a weekly anti-government protest on Saturday.

“We’re not standing here to ask for pity. We’re here to demand answers,” Hagit Chen told the roughly 200 people who came to the weekly demonstration at Habima Square. “Who knew, who warned, who ignored, who’s responsible.”

“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?” she said. “Whoever is unwilling to commit to seeking the truth — we call on you not to give them your vote.”

Ruby Chen said the government’s failure to form a state commission of inquiry nearly three years after the Hamas attack “is an evasion from seeking the truth and taking responsibility.”

He accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other ministers of fear-mongering against the opposition “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?” he said. “What did you do that caused a quarter of a million Israelis to leave Israel?”

חייבים להחליף.כמו שנתניהו אמר אחרי מלחמת לבנון השנייה: לתת לממשלה האחראית על מלחמת לבנון לנצח בבחירות זה כמו לתת לקפטן של הטיטאניק את המפתחות לעוד ספינה להשיט עם אלפי אנשים. @Investigate0710 @bringhomenow @hagitchen pic.twitter.com/BLFCbDHueW

— Ruby Chen (@EmailRubychen) August 8, 2026

A state commission of inquiry “does not belong to this or that political camp” but is rather “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 said.

Ruby Chen also called on the state to “recognize the new reality that October 7 created,” of families like his own that suffered “psychological terrorism” waiting for the return of their slain loved ones’ abducted bodies.

Such families’ needs are “not being addressed by the State of Israel,” he said, as the crowd jeers.

Critics accuse Netanyahu of seeking a politically appointed probe to shield himself and his government from responsibility over the massacre. Netanyahu has never accepted explicit responsibility for the attack, instead blaming security forces, previous governments, the judiciary and political opponents.

The opposition has demanded that an independent state commission of inquiry be established, and parties in the anti-Netanyahu bloc have vowed to establish one if they are victorious at the election.

Netanyahu has adamantly opposed forming one because its members would be selected by the president of the Supreme Court, which he claims is biased against him.

However, Netanyahu himself called for a state commission of inquiry into the previous government’s conduct as recently as 2022. Opinion polls have shown that a majority of Israelis support establishing such an inquiry, the traditional body for investigating major incidents and the only body empowered to subpoena witnesses.

Ex-premier and B’Yachad party leader Naftali Bennett and Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman are discussing a potential post-election union between their parties in the case that neither party wins the most seats among the opposition bloc, Channel 12 said in an unsourced report on Saturday, in an apparent bid to prevent current frontrunner Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot from becoming prime minister.

According to the report, Bennett and Liberman are not looking to “make it easy” for Eisenkot to assume the premiership, even if his party wins the most seats, and instead are discussing a potential rotation agreement or a party merger to give them the most seats in the opposition bloc.

The outlet reported Bennett previously supported the top spot going to the leader of the largest party, but once Eisenkot overtook him in the polls, he shifted to advocating for the “most experienced,” or “most right-wing” party leader within the bloc becoming prime minister.

The president does not automatically task the head of the largest party with building a coalition after elections. Rather, the president hears recommendations from the leaders of the new Knesset parties themselves on who they would favor to do so, and then gives the task to the MK the president judges is best able to build a coalition.

A recent poll by The Times of Israel’s Zman Yisrael sister site had Eisenkot winning the most seats at 23, with Bennett’s party at 15 and Liberman’s at 11, meaning that if Bennett and Liberman merged their parties, they would come out slightly ahead of Eisenkot with 26 seats.

The poll had Jewish opposition parties winning 57 seats, short of a majority without the Arab-majority Ra’am, while Netanyahu’s bloc would win 51.

Elections are set for October 27.

Separately, ex-Likud lawmaker Gilad Erdan said in an interview on Saturday with Channel 12 that he was recently offered a spot on Netanyahu-led party’s list, but said “I rejected it outright.”

“I was offered a seat in Likud, just in the last few days,” he said. “I rejected it outright, because as I explained, I have no interest in being in a system again where I cannot lead and make an impact.”

“I am not interested in being subject to the political decisions of some leader, and it does not matter which party,” he said.

Erdan recently announced the formation of a new, yet-unnamed party with fellow ex-Likud MK Yuli Edelstein. Both men vow to make universal IDF service a cornerstone of their platform and promise to only join a broad consensus government.

A Channel 13 poll on Wednesday showed the Erdan-Edelstein party would not cross the electoral threshold, while a poll from last week by Zman Yisrael showed the faction would receive five Knesset seats. The electoral threshold is set at 3.25%, which means a party must receive four seats in order to enter the Knesset.

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