Thousands rally against Netanyahu ahead of vote, demand inquiry into October 7 failures

Thousands of Israelis protested in Tel Aviv on Saturday against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet, three days ahead of a general election seen by many as a referendum on his leadership.

The demonstration was sponsored by the October Council, a group set up by families of those killed or held hostage in the Hamas-led onslaught on Israel on October 7, 2023 The group is calling for accountability for the security flaws that allowed the attack to happen.

Israeli media claimed the event included representatives from the four main opposition parties, including former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, who is opposing Netanyahu and received a rousing reception from the crowd.

“Three days before the election we will hold the culminating event marking three years of struggle to uncover the truth, demand accountability and establish a state commission of inquiry,” the October Council announced on X prior of the demonstration.

Neither bloc was expected to win a majority in Israel’s 120-seat Knesset according to the latest opinion polls released before a blackout on political polling took effect late Friday.

A poll published by public broadcaster KAN forecast 52 seats for Eisenkot’s bloc and 50 for Netanyahu’s, with the remaining seats going to parties outside the two blocs, including Arab parties.

An AFP correspondent saw thousands of protesters march from Rabin Square to Hostages Square, where previous protests had been held to demand the release of hostages held in Gaza.

“The job done by whoever has been leading us for the past four years is so terrible,” Hadas Feuershtein, 68, told AFP moments before the rally began, referring to Netanyahu’s government which took office in late 2022.

“Israel has never been in a situation like this,” she added.

The October Council had warned law enforcement in advance of the protest that pro-government agitators would be planning “provocations.”

Israeli police announced Saturday evening they detained a suspect in the assault of the security team of a public figure in Tel Aviv. Israeli media said the target was opposition leader and former prime minister Naftali Bennett.

The gathering came after years of demand by Israeli civil society groups and opposition parties for an independent commission of investigation into security failings around the Oct. 7 attack.

Netanyahu’s government has refused to establish a commission, the kind that Israel typically has formed to review grave national failures. Instead, it has suggested a political commission with its members to be equally nominated by the governing coalition and opposition parliamentarians.

Opposition leaders have promised to boycott a commission constituted by politicians.

As the campaign winds down, Eisenkot and Bennett are to conduct separate talks with voters in Tel Aviv Sunday evening.

‘bbCoin’ problem

“I’m sure that the bloc that I’m voting for and that is anti-Netanyahu will win,” said 18-year-old first-time voter Naama Bitterman, who attended Saturday’s event. “I think it will make Israel look better in the world.

She added that years of war in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran, as well as escalating violence in the occupied West Bank, have eroded standing.

“I think if we win — and we are going to win — we can change how other people in the whole world see us,” she told AFP.

Britain and other countries have sanctioned goods from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank amid worries over settler violence against Palestinians and settlement expansion sanctioned by Netanyahu’s right-wing administration.

Israel may need to build an alternative digital economy to fight its rising international isolation, Netanyahu said Friday.

Prime leader has repeatedly urged for more military self-sufficiency. Multibillion-dollar arms deals from important partner the United States “won’t keep coming”, the prime minister said.

Opposition leaders denounced the ideas Saturday.

Eisenkot had cynically labelled the proposed competing digital currency “bbCoin” – a frequent nickname for Netanyahu, Bibi.

“If Netanyahu is re-elected, Israel will disconnect from the global economy, he says. No online commerce. No high-tech investments. No security. “bbCoin must not be allowed to destroy Israel,” he wrote on X.

Former prime minister and current opposition leader Yair Lapid accused Netanyahu of warning Israelis they could suffer tremendous economic hardship if he won another term.

Lapid told Israel’s Channel 12 in an interview, “That’s what will happen if he wins the elections: there will be sanctions, there will be no security agreement with the United States… and there will be no Israeli economy.”