MKs to begin debating Oct. 7 commemoration bill

The Knesset’s Education, Culture, and Sports Committee will convene on Sunday to begin debating a law that will set the official annual remembrance events of the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre.

According to the bill, the Hebrew date of the 24th of Tishrei, just after the end of the Sukkot holiday, will be a national day of remembrance. The day will include an official state ceremony, educational activities in schools and IDF bases, and television and radio programs. In addition, flags at official institutions and IDF bases will be lowered to half-mast, and the Knesset will hold a special discussion in the plenum and committees to commemorate the massacre.

The bill also establishes a new government authority that will be headquartered in the Gaza border area. The authority will “commemorate the fallen, survivors, and soldiers, and tell the stories of the hostages and the communities” that were targeted in the massacre.

According to the bill, the new authority will initiate and manage commemoration events and instruct and cooperate with other bodies dealing with the commemoration. It will also “gather, research, and publish” testimonies of the terror events and promote awareness in Israel and abroad.

The bill was proposed by 60 MKs from all of the Jewish parties in the Knesset.

The Knesset is currently in recess, and while committees meet regularly, the special procedure needs to be enacted in order to convene the plenum; it is not clear if the bill will pass by October 7. It therefore may only apply from 2025 onwards. The bill proposal passed its preliminary reading already in July. According to a report by Maariv, the reason for the delay was a dispute between the bill’s initiators and the Director-General of the Prime Minister’s Office, Yossi Shelley, who demanded that the bill be formulated and proposed by the government and not the Knesset.

The committee debate on Sunday comes after controversy erupted last month over the government’s decision to hold a prerecorded commemoration ceremony without a live audience. A separate initiative that was joined by many families announced that it would hold an alternative ceremony in Yarkon Park in Tel Aviv, with tens of thousands expected to attend. Organizers of the ceremony announced on Wednesday that dozens of top-tier musicians will participate in the ceremony, including Aviv Geffen, Shlomo Artzi, Shalom Hanoch, Boaz Sharabi, Ivri Lider, and many more.