Family of Oct. 7 hostages, Knesset guards brawl ahead of Netanyahu speech: ‘Is this how bereaved families are treated?’
A violent brawl broke out between bereaved families of the Oct. 7 hostages and victims and Knesset guards on Monday ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to parliament.
Viral video from inside Knesset showed the moment security guards began shoving the victims’ families from the plenum guest gallery, where the relatives were set to support a state inquiry into the government’s failures to prevent the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack.
Chaos quickly erupted, and family members pushed the guards back. One outraged relative was seen wrestling with a guard, and others struggled to pull the two men off each other.
The guards quickly regrouped and pushed back the angry families to keep them away from the staircase leading to the guest gallery as the relatives shouted and demanded entry.
At least two people were reportedly injured in the chaotic confrontation, with Shimon Buskila, the father of one of the Oct. 7 victims, fainting and requiring medical attention.
The grieving father sobbed as he said today’s brawl made him feel as though his determination to keep going after his son’s death had all been in vain.
“Today I was broken … Is this how bereaved families are treated? With us on the floor? Is that our place?” he told Haaretz.
The brawl apparently broke out when the families demanded entrance to the guest gallery, with the guard informing them that only 10 people could go in at a time, The Jerusalem Post reported.
The October Council — which represents Oct. 7 survivors, former hostages and victims’ families — said they had informed the Knesset ahead of time that at least 40 people would be attending Monday’s special session.
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana has called for an investigation over the guard’s use of force against the families, a parliament spokesperson said.
The relatives were joining lawmakers to demand a State Commission of Inquiry over the Oct. 7 massacre, which Netanyahu has refused to form.
The premier claimed during his Monday address that a state commission would be biased and could not be trusted by the public as he went into a rant about the “deep state.”
Breaking ranks from Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said his party would support such a probe, with former prime minister Naftali Bennett slamming the night as a disaster for Netanyahu’s waning administration.
Rachel Goldberg-Polin, the mother of slain hostage and Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, said she and the other families support a complete probe into the Oct. 7 attack and its quick release to the public.
“I, along with 83%…call to form a state commission of inquiry…to do what every democracy should do, listen to the vast majority of people,” Goldberg-Polin said, referencing the overwhelming support for the probe in Israel.
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