Thousands of people gathered at Tel Aviv’s Habima Square Saturday night for an anti-government protest and memorial ceremony led by bereaved families, calling for a state commission of inquiry into the failures leading to the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack.

The protest, which was accompanied by several other gatherings in cities across Israel, was organized by the October Council, a group of relatives of victims of the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack. It took place ahead of Israel’s official Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism, which will begin Monday night.

The ceremony was held under the title Yishkach (“forget”), a play on the Yizkor (“remember”) adjuration that is typically read at Memorial Day ceremonies.

At the protest, speakers railed against the government’s failure to hold itself accountable for October 7, accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of leading a directionless forever war at the expense of their slain loved ones so he can remain in power.

The speakers, who all ended their speeches with the words “we won’t let you forget,” represented six groups that they accuse the government of abandoning: Members of the armed forces killed defending southern Israel during the October 7 attack; civilians killed by Hezbollah rockets in northern Israel; hostages killed in captivity in Gaza; civilians killed in the Gaza border communities during the October 7 attack; civilians killed in the massacre that day at the Re’im-area rave; and reservists killed in combat.

Each group of representatives laid a laurel wreath on the stage, with a seventh wreath laid for everyone killed in the nearly 1,000 days of conflict since the Hamas onslaught, including reservists who died by suicide.

Laying a wreath for the slain hostages, Ofri Bibas, whose sister-in-law Shiri and young nephews Ariel and Kfir were killed in captivity, addressed Netanyahu, saying: “Prime Minister, a second Holocaust happened to my family. It happened to us.”

Netanyahu, in his Holocaust Remembrance Day speech last week, credited himself with preventing “a second Holocaust” at Iran’s hands.

“After two-and-a-half years of war, the country is not grand,” Bibas told the crowd. “It’s........

© The Times of Israel