00:02For two years this square was the scene of rally after rally from a desperate population
00:07pleading for their government to do more to bring back Israeli hostages taken by Hamas
00:13on October 7, 2023.
00:15Now a year after the final living captives were returned and around nine months since
00:21the remains of the killed hostages were also brought back to Israel, this is now a focal
00:27point once more for the Israeli community.
00:30This rally has been organised by the October Council, which is made up of the families
00:34of the bereaved.
00:35They are demanding a totally independent inquiry into the failures which allowed Hamas to launch
00:41their deadly raids.
00:43That is something which to this point the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly
00:49rejected.
00:50He has said that that would be nothing more than a witch hunt.
00:53If it would be up to me I would put all 64 or later 68 Knesset members into jail.
01:00Democracy is torn down and it's ridiculous that the government that has been responsible
01:07for this horrible war and for letting us down so many months before the war is still there.
01:16This is an issue which is central to the Israeli election campaign with many of Benjamin Netanyahu's
01:22political rivals insisting they will back such a probe into that day.
01:27Not only as part of the healing for this country but also as part of the process of ensuring national
01:33security, making sure it doesn't happen again.
01:36The polls ahead of the Israeli election on Tuesday are incredibly tight.
01:41They do show Benjamin Netanyahu's main political rival Gadi Isenkov is on track to form the largest
01:47party in the Knesset but neither he or Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud will have an outright majority.
01:53That means that there will still be complicated coalition negotiations to come that could be incredibly
01:59messy and incredibly lengthy meaning this Tuesday's vote is just the beginning of a process which could
02:06take weeks if not months to resolve.
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