A major protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has taken place in Tel-Aviv just days ahead of the Israeli parliamentary election on October 27.
A square outside the Museum of Art in the country’s largest city was packed on Saturday evening, with the demonstrators holding national flags and banners, reading ‘Change will come’, ‘No more Mr. Far Right Guy’ and other slogans.
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The organizers of the gathering from the October Council group put the attendance at over 100,000. The police have yet to announce official figures.
Netanyahu’s main rival in the election – Yashar party chairman and former military chief of staff, Gadi Eisenkot – and other leaders of the opposition bloc have attended the rally. The crowd cheered Eisenkot’s appearance, chanting: “Who’s coming? The next prime minister.”
The October Council was formed by families of the victims of the attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023, who demand accountability from Netanuahy’s right-wing government for the failure to prevent the incursion.
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Saturday’s protest, organized with the title ‘In Three Days, Vote for a State Commission of Inquiry’, is the culmination of three years of weekly rallies, according to the group.
The State Commissions of Inquiry, which are independent panels appointed by the Supreme Court, are usually set up in Israel to investigate major failures by the authorities. However, Netanyahu refused to establish such a probe into October 7, insisting that it would be biased against his government.
Reports in the US and local media claimed that the prime minister ignored warnings of the planned attack by Hamas he had received from various sources, including Israeli intelligence and the UAE and Egypt. Netanyahu has denied those claims.
A poll by public broadcaster KAN published before the start of the election silence period on Friday, suggested that Eisenkot’s opposition bloc would get 52 out of 120 in the Israeli parliament, with Netanyahu and his supporters winning 50 seats. This means that neither is likely control the Knesset outright.
