The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has requested that the word “massacre” be removed from the title of a bill establishing a national day of commemoration for the October 7 Hamas attacks.
PMO representative Yoal Elbaz presented the position on Wednesday during a Knesset Education, Culture, and Sports Committee 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.”
Acting chairperson of the committee 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 Avir, the sister of Lotan Abir, who was murdered at the Supernova music festival, expressed outrage toward the decision.
“It doesn’t make sense for the Prime Minister’s Office to manage the event while it prevents investigation into the attacks,” she said.
“We waited two and a half years and can wait a little longer, until there’s a proper law [for commemoration] suitable for everyone. Only then will there be commemoration like there needs to be,” she told the panel.
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.
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett responded that “Only a disconnected government would try to erase a massacre that is etched in blood in every Jewish heart.”
Yisrael Beytenu chairperson Avigdor Liberman slammed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the title change.
“There was a massacre, rape, murder, and abduction of thousands of Israelis [on October 7]. He cannot escape responsibility,” Liberman stated.
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 in 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 propos 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.
There has been conflict and debate in the country regarding how to commemorate the October 7 massacre.
In 2024, one year after the attacks, the country split in 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 also 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.