00:20Thank you for joining us.
00:30Thousands of Israelis have flooded the streets of Tel Aviv in a massive anti-government protest against Prime Minister Benjamin
00:38Netanyahu just three days before Israel's October 27th general election.
00:45Families of victims, former hostages, survivors, and opposition leaders have gathered to demand answers over the failures surrounding the October
00:557th, 2023 attacks.
00:58At the center of the rally is one demand, accountability.
01:03The main demonstration took place at Hostages Square, outside the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, a location that has become
01:11a focal point for protests over the hostages and the government's handling of the crisis.
01:17Crowds marched from Robbins Square, carrying Israeli flags, photographs of victims and hostages, and signs calling for political change.
01:28Organizers estimated that more than 100,000 people attended, although media reports described the turnout as ranging from thousands to
01:37tens of thousands.
01:38The protesters are demanding an independent state commission of inquiry into the security and intelligence failures that allowed the Hamas
01:48-led October 7th, 2023 attacks to unfold.
01:52Around 1,200 people were killed in the attacks, and hostages were taken into Gaza.
01:59Critics accuse Netanyahu's government of resisting a fully independent investigation and favoring alternatives that could give political figures greater influence
02:11over the process.
02:12They argue that the public deserves a transparent account of what went wrong, who was responsible, and how such failures
02:20can be prevented in the future.
02:23The rally also carried a clear political message.
02:27Chants of Netanyahu go and calls to vote him out reflected the anger of demonstrators,
02:34who believe the government must face consequences for its handling of the October 7th disaster.
02:41Among those attending were opposition figures Yair Lapid, Yair Galan, Avigdor Lieberman, and Gadi Eisenkot.
02:51A former military chief and political rival of Netanyahu received particularly enthusiastic reactions,
02:58with some in the crowd chanting,
03:00The timing makes this demonstration especially significant.
03:08Israel is heading into a general election on October 27th,
03:12with Netanyahu's leadership, the October 7th failures,
03:16and the government's accountability,
03:19all major issues in the political debate.
03:22Netanyahu's Likud party has criticized the rally's political implications,
03:27describing it as election propaganda.
03:31Meanwhile, protesters and opposition figures are using the final days of the campaign
03:36to press their demands for answers and change.
03:40The demonstration remained peaceful, with no major violence reported.
03:45But the message from the streets was unmistakable.
03:49Many Israelis are still demanding accountability for October 7th,
03:53and they want answers before the country decides its political future.
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