Former hostage calls on Knesset members to resign: "You killed the people of Israel"

photo: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM ByYIFAT ROSENBERG MAY 11, 2026 

Former hostage Rom Braslavski stood before the Knesset on May 11th and demanded the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into the horrors of October 7.

Members of the October Council, among them Braslavski himself, bereaved families, and residents of the Gaza border communities and the North, gathered at the parliament on Monday to mark the opening of its summer session with protest. Their purpose was plain and unyielding: to keep the massacre of October 7 and the evasion of responsibility that has followed it at the very centre of the nation’s conscience.

Braslavski spoke with the authority of one who had endured what no man should. He described his time in captivity and levelled a direct accusation at those elected to protect the people."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."

The families declared that in the months ahead they would make the creation of such a commission a non-negotiable condition for any future government. It must be established, they insisted, on the very first day of the next administration’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.”

They moved between the faction rooms, pressing party leaders to sign commitments. The October Council made clear that the commission must examine every institution and every figure that failed on that day, and bring to an end what it sees as a deliberate campaign by the present government to bury the truth.

Further actions would be announced in the run-up to the elections, all designed to ensure that the memory of October 7 is not permitted to fade from public life or from political debate.

Michel Ilouz, father of Guy, murdered in Hamas captivity, turned his attention to the man at the top.

“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, rejected the minimising language now common among ministers.

“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 was killed on October 7, observed that the same cast of characters remains in charge, behaving as though the catastrophe had never occurred.

“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.”

This is the voice of a people who have paid in blood for the illusions and derelictions of their leaders. Whether those leaders will finally listen remains to be seen. But the demand for truth, and for accountability, will not be silenced.

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