Rom Braslavski, an Israeli who was held hostage in Gaza for 738 days, lashed out on Monday at the government’s inability to prevent the Oct. 7 attack, demanding all Parliament members and government ministers across the political spectrum resign en masse.
“Take responsibility and get out of our lives,” said Mr. Braslavski, who was held by the militant group Islamic Jihad and said he had endured starvation, torture and physical and sexual abuse in captivity and was long held in isolation. “The blood of the murdered people of Oct. 7 is all on you.”
Mr. Braslavski’s demand came as he spoke along with other members of the October Council, a forum for former captives and their families, during a news briefing held at Parliament. He described some of the harrowing experiences he endured on the day he was seized at the Nova music festival, including burying the bullet-riddled body of a young woman, under fire, as her mother called her on her cellphone.
He asked, “Would you answer the mother?”
Describing his two-year captivity, he asked, “Has anyone here ever been clinically dead? Malnourished, weighing 47 kilograms, while a 50-year-old Islamic Jihad terrorist jumps on your neck and laughs?”
“Why the hell did I have to go through this?” Mr. Braslavski asked. “Why did I have to be kidnapped from my home, on your watch? I will never be able to fully heal my soul.”
Mr. Braslavski said no one in the government had apologized for what happened to him or for how long it had taken to secure his release, calling government members, “miserable cowards.”
He demanded that all members of Parliament and all government ministers resign, whatever their political affiliation, and that they appoint an independent state commission of inquiry to investigate the failures that led to the Oct. 7 attack as their final act before resigning.
The request echoes a demand made by other former hostages, their families and Israelis who have accused the government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of shirking their responsibility, in part by thwarting an independent investigation.
The October Council briefing at the Parliament building comes as Israelis gear up for the first national elections since the 2023 attack, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 250 kidnapped. Accountability for the assault is a significant issue in the election, slated to take place the fall.
The Israeli military response to the Oct. 7 assault, lasting over two years, displaced most of Gaza’s population of two million people, led to mass suffering and killed more than 70,000 Palestinians, including combatants, according to health officials in Gaza.
The Hamas-led assault took the Israeli government, military and security services by surprise, and Israel has not yet conducted an official, comprehensive inquiry into the event.
Mr. Netanyahu has proposed a special commission that would include people chosen by his governing coalition and the opposition. The proposal departs from Israeli law and tradition, in which an independent state commission of inquiry should be composed of members chosen by the president of the Supreme Court, not by lawmakers.
Earlier this year, Mr. Netanyahu released a document consisting largely of quotes taken from official meetings in the years preceding the 2023 attack that appeared to lay the blame on others. In the aftermath of Oct. 7, members of the opposition accused Mr. Netanyahu of allowing Hamas to entrench itself in Gaza, pillorying him for a policy of allowing hundreds of millions of dollars from Qatar to flow into the territory.
“This country will never recover as a society if this government is not held accountable for Oct. 7,” said Jonathan Dekel-Chen from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a southern border community near Gaza that was hit hard in the attack. Mr. Dekel-Chen, whose son was held hostage in Gaza, accused members of the government of deflecting blame to stay in power and mishandling the hostage crisis, including by vilifying the families who fought for the release of their loved ones.
Mr. Dekel-Chen was not part of the October Council gathering at the Parliament building, but he too has called for accountability and change. In a phone call, he said that for the families of the former captives and those killed, an independent process and accountability for what happened are essential. “Oct. 7 is the result of years of government neglect and misguided policy,” he said.
In April, the centrist leader of Israel’s opposition, Yair Lapid, and a right-wing former prime minister, Naftali Bennett, announced that they would combine forces in the coming election, in an apparent bid to reconstitute a partnership that temporarily unseated Mr. Netanyahu five years ago. Mr. Bennett said a government under his leadership would establish an independent commission of inquiry “on Day 1.”
Mr. Lapid, speaking at Parliament on Monday, called for the government to dissolve immediately, saying, “It’s time to start something new.”
Isabel Kershner contributed reporting.
Ephrat Livni is a Times reporter covering breaking news around the world. She is based in Washington.
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