Three years after the terrorist attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, the Israeli government’s handling of the massacre weighs heavily on voters’ minds.
This year’s memorial services carry an increased political weight as Israeli citizens prepare to head to the ballot box on Oct. 27. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is leading a multi-party alliance against an opposition widely perceived to revolve around former Gen. Gadi Eisenkot. The vote is seen as a referendum on Netanyahu’s actions before, during, and after the terrorist attacks.
“October 7 is casting a long shadow over these elections. Questions of security, accountability and whether the lessons of the attack have truly been learned will weigh heavily on many voters as they make their choice,” Yohanan Plesner — president of the Israel Democracy Institute, a nonpartisan research center — said in a Tuesday statement.
The Israel Democracy Institute published the results of a voter intention survey last month that found “68% of Israelis consider Oct. 7 a central or close to central factor in their decision-making.”
“A significant majority view the events of October 7 as a central element in their decision about which party to vote for, though the Left and the Center accord them more importance than do those on the Right,” the survey report said.
On the Right, the question is how Israel can prevent future attacks on the scale of Oct. 7, while the center and Left remain committed to launching a fully independent investigation of the government’s failures.
“More than three years later, Israel still lacks an independent, authoritative account of what went wrong, and what needs to be fixed to rectify the terrible failures,” Plesner said. “This makes the formation of a state commission of inquiry by the next government as essential as ever.”
A state commission of inquiry has never been undertaken due to interference from Netanyahu and his allies, who claim that such an investigation would be inherently politicized. Commissions of inquiry in Israel have wide powers and prerogatives that allow investigators to call witnesses from across the government and compel them to testify.
In August, the attorney general’s office submitted a statement to the Israeli Supreme Court insisting that such a commission should be undertaken following the Oct. 27 elections, regardless of the victor.
A poll published by Israeli outlet N12 News this week found that 66% of respondents supported a state commission of inquiry, compared to 21% who opposed it and 13% who were unsure. Among opposition voters, 93% supported the inquiry, compared to just 37% of Netanyahu-aligned voters.
Netanyahu and his opposition rivals have slung insults and accusations at one another for months over their respective experiences on the fateful day. The prime minister — who was asleep during the first hours of the attacks — has asserted that forces within the Israeli military intentionally withheld intelligence from him, fearing his defensive actions would be too drastic.
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Critics have dismissed this as an attempt to shift blame away from his government, with Eisenkot saying last month, “Those around Netanyahu are echoing disgraceful conspiracy theories and allegations of betrayal, while clinging to the most absurd statement a leader can make: ‘No one woke me up.’”
Neither coalition is currently projected to secure a sufficient amount of seats in the Knesset to form a government without support from one of the Arab parties, who are traditionally excluded from Jewish-led alliances.