Shin Bet chief tells bereaved families enough time has passed since the October 7 events

Shin Bet Director David Zini held a tense meeting yesterday with bereaved families after deciding to remove a memorial corner for the agency’s October 7 fallen. New quotes from the talk, revealed on Friday evening, show that Zini insists on using the term “the Simchat Torah events” rather than “the October 7 massacre.”

This was the first meeting the families had with Zini since he took office. During the conversation, he denied claims published by Haaretz on Wednesday and told the families that the memorial display had been only a temporary arrangement. According to him, it had already been removed on Memorial Day at the request of other families and to avoid discrimination among the fallen.

Zini also said, “Enough time has passed since the ‘Simchat Torah events,’ the war is over.” Bereaved families reacted angrily, saying that no one will be allowed to forget. The Shin Bet said in response that, in the view of the agency chief, displaying only part of the fallen diminishes the scale of the failure, and that the goal is to commemorate all of the dead properly.

Reut Edri, mother of Shin Bet fighter Ido Edri, who was murdered at the Nova party, said that if the quotes are accurate, Zini’s words and actions are continuing the government narrative of erasing the massacre and continuing the abandonment of her son and the other Shin Bet fighters after their deaths.