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

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........

© The Times of Israel