The Prime Minister’s Office has requested that the word “massacre” be removed from the title of a bill that proposes to establish a national day of commemoration for the October 7 Hamas attacks.
PMO representative Yoel Elbaz presented the position on Wednesday during a Knesset Education, Culture, and Sports Committee meeting that convened to advance the bill, sparking outrage from bereaved families in attendance.
Rather than using the word “massacre” in the bill’s title, Elbaz said that the Prime Minister’s Office decided that the wording for the attacks should be “events” and “incidents.”
“We went through a lot of strategy and decided to call it ‘events’ and ‘incidents,’ because it wasn’t only a massacre; there was also a massacre, and the word appears later in the proposed text,” Elbaz told the panel.
He said that “the 1929 events were called that [events], not the ‘1929 massacre,’ because remembrance builds resilience.”
Families reject removal of 'massacre' from October 7 memorial bill
Acting committee chair MK Yosef Taieb (Shas) said that the word “massacre” had indeed been removed from the bill’s title for now. He added that the matter would be discussed again before a final committee vote.
Hila Abir, the sister of Lotan Abir, who was murdered at the Supernova music festival, expressed outrage over the decision.
“Where is the death of our brothers and our children? You are erasing it,” she told the panel.
“This law will pass over my dead body,” she said.
“It doesn’t make sense for the Prime Minister’s Office to manage the event while it prevents investigation into the attacks,” Abir added.
“We waited two and a half years and can wait a little longer until there’s a proper law [for commemoration] suitable for everyone.”
The October Council, which represents bereaved families of the attacks, called the decision “a mark of disgrace.”
“We are here to state clearly: There was a massacre. We paid the highest possible price for it. We will ensure that everyone responsible is investigated by a state commission of inquiry and that they, too, pay the price.”
“No politician’s blood is redder than the blood of our children, our brothers and sisters, and our parents,” the group added.
The PMO’s decision to remove the word “massacre” also sparked sharp criticism from politicians outside of the coalition.
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett responded, “Only a disconnected government would try to erase a massacre that is etched in blood in every Jewish heart.”
Yisrael Beytenu chair Avigdor Liberman slammed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the title change.
The PMO later sent out a clarification statement that the word “massacre” appears throughout the text of the proposed bill. It added that the purpose of the bill is to commemorate the events of October 7 “in their full severity and scope.”
“The PMO is committed to a comprehensive and truthful commemoration of all aspects of the events, without blurring of omission, and is working to advance the bill in that spirit,” the statement said.
The Knesset plenum passed the bill in its first reading in January. The bill proposes establishing a national day of remembrance for the attacks. It designates the 24th of Tishrei on the Hebrew calendar as the official day of commemoration.
The date was also debated in the committee meeting as bereaved parents insisted that the Gregorian date of the attacks, October 7, be the official day of commemoration.
Other aspects of the bill’s proposal include creating an authority to be responsible for overseeing commemoration activities and preserving the national memory of the attacks.
Until the authority is formally established, the bill stipulates that the PMO will coordinate remembrance, documentation, and commemoration activities.
The bill also proposes establishing a memorial site and museum in southern Israel, where the Hamas attacks took place.
Much conflict and debate has taken place in the country regarding how to commemorate the October 7 massacre.
In 2024, one year after the attacks, the country split its ceremonies, as bereaved families and victims of the attacks rejected attending a ceremony that was led by the government. Instead, an alternative public memorial was initiated by bereaved families and survivors to commemorate the attacks on a separate day.
There have been other instances in which the government has altered official terminology surrounding the war.
In October, the government voted in favor of Netanyahu’s proposal to change the official name of the Israel-Hamas War from Operation Swords of Iron to the War of Revival.
This decision also sparked controversy, with critics saying that framing the war as a “revival” was a way for the government to evade responsibility for the failures on October 7.
The political echelon has repeatedly blocked a state inquiry into the events surrounding that tragic day despite polls showing huge public support for this type of investigation.
Instead, the government has been advancing a bill that aims to establish a politically appointed committee to investigate the failures surrounding October 7.
On Wednesday, lawmakers continued to debate the bill in the Knesset Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee.
The bill passed its preliminary reading in the Knesset plenum in December. It was initiated by MK Ariel Kallner (Likud).
The committee’s legal adviser sent a letter the day before the meeting, warning that the bill could jeopardize the integrity of an investigation into the October 7 attacks and highlighting several structural issues with the proposed framework.
Bereaved families held an alternative meeting in a room nearby in protest of the bill, speaking about those they lost during the massacre.
Committee chair Simcha Rothman (Religious Zionist Party) clashed with a representative from the Attorney-General’s Office during the meeting.
All opposition party leaders have announced that they will boycott upcoming Knesset discussions advancing the bill, stating they will not cooperate with it.
The bill seeks to promote a new investigative framework that diverges from the traditional independent state commission of inquiry mechanism overseen by the Supreme Court.
Under the framework laid out in Kallner’s bill proposal, Supreme Court appointments would be replaced by members selected through a Knesset-led process.
The commission would comprise six members, according to the bill. Lawmakers would first be given a limited period to reach an agreement on all appointments in a vote requiring a supermajority of 80 Knesset members.
If no agreement were reached in the supermajority vote, the coalition and the opposition would each appoint three members to the committee.
However, if the opposition refuses to participate, a scenario widely viewed as likely, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana (Likud) would be empowered to select who would be in the opposition’s slots – an aspect of the bill that is considered highly controversial.