Victims' Families Confront Netanyahu Over October 7 Failures

Parents of victims from the October 7th Hamas attacks held a press conference Tuesday, directly challenging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and demanding accountability for what they described as a 15-year policy failure that preceded the massacre. The families rejected the narrative that the failures began only on the morning of October 7th, insisting the groundwork was laid over years.

Shelly Meshel-Yogev, mother of Libi Cohen Guri, who was murdered at the Nova music festival, shared a harrowing account of her daughter's final moments and questioned the logic of hearing her daughter's last words as she was being shot. "How can it be that the greatest disaster in the State of Israel is not investigated?" she asked, directly addressing Netanyahu. "The Prime Minister set our security policy. How can he not say that everything that happened here is his responsibility and that I am responsible for the massacre?"

Meshel-Yogev criticized Netanyahu's policies, including his alleged encouragement of Qatari money transfers to Gaza and his focus on weakening Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. She stated, "If I had been woken up on time? The failure did not begin on October 7th."

Einav Tsengauker, mother of hostage survivor Matan Tsengauker, echoed these sentiments, stating that the Israeli government has not taken responsibility since the attack. She accused the government of engaging in a "campaign of escaping responsibility, including lies, conspiracies, and incitement against the IDF." Tsengauker demanded answers regarding the years of massive fund transfers to Hamas, the lack of action following intelligence warnings, and decisions that allowed Hamas to strengthen.

Tsengauker reminded Netanyahu of his promise that difficult questions would be asked after the war, stating, "The time has come. We will present the bill to the government together with all of Israel." The Prime Minister's office had previously released a timeline of Netanyahu's actions on the morning of October 7th, stating he was first updated at 6:29 AM and received a second update at 6:44 AM, after which he reportedly inquired about intelligence failures and the possibility of a large-scale reserve call-up and eliminating Hamas leadership.