Protests Mark 1,000 Days Since Hamas-Led October 7 Assault in Israel

Protests and unofficial memorial events were held throughout Israel on Thursday to mark 1,000 days since the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led assault on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and triggered wars that have killed hundreds more.

“Maariv Newspaper wondered how one thousand days after the worst disaster to befall “Israel” since its establishment—the October 7 attack—a commission of inquiry has yet to be established”

Al-Manar TV Lebanon

The Times of Israel reported that the October Council, a group of bereaved families, October 7 survivors, and some former hostages, opened the day’s events at 6:29 a.m., the exact time that the attack began 1,000 days earlier, with protests at numerous junctions.

Al-Manar TV Lebanon

At a memorial held at the Nova music festival massacre site in Re’im, Yoram Yehudai said, "Above all, it's a thousand days without Ron, a thousand days of a rent heart."

Nissan Calderon, a survivor of the massacre and brother of former hostage Ofer Calderon, accused the government of failing to take responsibility, saying, "Those responsible for the massacre have not taken responsibility."

The Times of Israel also said Esther Buchshtab, the mother of Yagev Buchshtab, who was abducted and murdered in Hamas captivity, told a protest outside the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv that, "We have returned to the kibbutz and still don't know what caused the disaster of October 7 or how to prevent the next one."

The Jerusalem Post said that on Thursday, 1,000 days after the worst disaster in Israel’s history since its founding, the country still has no state commission of inquiry into the October 7 massacre.

It argued that Netanyahu promised Israelis “total victory,” and said, "Israel, however, is not a dictatorship, and Netanyahu’s achievement should not be taken from him."

BBC

In a separate account of internal Israeli divisions, the BBC described protests in Tel Aviv where several hundred Israelis stood in silence holding signs bearing the name of a Palestinian child killed by Israel in Gaza.

The BBC quoted Timina Peretz explaining that their movement began after the breakdown of the last ceasefire with Hamas on March 18 and the resumption of hostilities by Israel, saying, "I refuse to remain silent while that happens, a genocide and famine…"

The BBC also reported that a sample collected over the last three days of July by the Israeli Democracy Institute indicated that 78% of Israeli Jews believe Israel is making substantial efforts to avoid causing unnecessary suffering to Palestinians of Gaza, while 79% answered negatively when asked if they were concerned by reports of famine and suffering among Palestinians in Gaza.

France 24 reported that the Israeli Supreme Court on Friday suspended the government’s decision to oust Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, so it could review appeals seized with, and it said the court ordered a provisional measure suspending the effect of the decision.

“The Israeli Supreme Court freezes the removal of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, Netanyahu insists”

France 24

It also said Israeli attorney general Gali Baharav-Miara warned Netanyahu that it is forbidden to take any step that would undermine the status of the Shin Bet chief, Ronen Bar, and that it is forbidden to name a new Shin Bet chief and not allowed to conduct interviews for the post.

The BBC’s Jeremy Bowen wrote that Netanyahu ordered the first major ground offensive of the war in the Gaza Strip on October 28, 2023, three weeks after the attacks, and that Netanyahu repeated his message since then.

Bowen’s piece said Netanyahu expressed a pledge to fight and not retreat, including the line, "We will fight and will not retreat."

In the same BBC account, Bowen described how Netanyahu’s declaration that Israelis would be "more united than ever" contrasted with a situation where Israel is more divided today than at any other moment in its history, while the article also reported that the Israeli Democracy Institute poll found 86% of members of the Arab Palestinian minority in Israel were very or somewhat troubled by reports of famine and suffering among Palestinians in Gaza.