00:18Two thousand people in the streets of Tel Aviv. Hundreds more in Jerusalem. One message, loud and clear. We want
00:27the government out.
00:28Nearly two years after October 7th, Israelis are still demanding answers nobody has given them.
00:36October 7th, 2023. Nearly 1,200 Israelis killed. 250 taken hostage into Gaza. The deadliest day for Jewish people since
00:47the Holocaust.
00:48And the question that has haunted Israel ever since. How did this happen? How did one of the most sophisticated
00:55intelligence and military apparatuses on Earth fail so catastrophically?
01:01Who knew what? Who ignored warnings? Who made the decisions that left communities defenseless? Those questions still don't have official
01:11answers. And for many Israelis, that silence is becoming unbearable.
01:16This weekend, demonstrators gathered at Habima Square in Tel Aviv and in Jerusalem, called together by civil groups and families
01:24of victims.
01:25Their demand is specific. An independent state commission of inquiry. Not an internal review. Not a military investigation that answers
01:35to the same government it's examining.
01:37A genuinely independent body with the power to question officials, examine decisions, and assign accountability. Protesters rejected what they called,
01:48quote, leadership evasion of responsibility.
01:51Well, we're here protesting to demand the establishment of a national committee of inquiry. We want to investigate what happened
01:59on October 7th, what led to it. We think it's essential for the government to deliver answers to the public
02:05about what happened.
02:07In Jerusalem, police forcibly dispersed some demonstrators who refused evacuation orders. The frustration on the streets was visible and raw.
02:17Here's the tension at the heart of all this.
02:19Israeli political, security, and military officials have publicly acknowledged October 7th as a failure. Several have resigned. Some have accepted
02:29partial responsibility. But a formal independent state commission, the kind that could compel testimony, examine classified decisions, and produce binding
02:40findings, has not been established.
02:42Critics say the government is deliberately delaying any serious inquiry to protect those in power. Supporters of the government argue
02:51wartime is not the moment for internal investigations that could undermine security operations. For the families of victims and hostages,
03:01that argument has worn thin.
03:03Well, there are so many things to protest against. We want a state commission of inquiry, what happened before, during,
03:11and after October 7th. We want the violence of the settlers in the West Bank to be stopped, to be
03:20stopped by the government, not by volunteers from overseas, etc.
03:23We want all the war. We want all the wars. We want our government to speak with the people in
03:28Lebanon, to speak with Syria. We made peace with Egypt. We made peace with Jordan. And it's held all these
03:35years. And it can happen also with Lebanon and Syria. But it seems that Netanyahu doesn't want that to happen.
03:40We want the government out.
03:43Nearly two years on, hostages still unaccounted for, a war that has reshaped the region, and a government that, in
03:51the eyes of thousands of its own citizens, has never truly faced the music.
03:56The people in Tel Aviv this weekend aren't fringe voices. They're parents, siblings, survivors, and ordinary Israelis who watched their
04:05country fail them on the worst day in a generation.
04:09They're not asking for punishment. They're asking for something simpler. The truth. And someone to be held responsible for it.
04:17Whether that commission ever happens, that's the question Israel is still refusing to fully answer.
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