1,000 Days After Oct. 7, Israelis Still Wait For Answers – OpEd

July 12, 2026 
Arab News
By Yossi Mekelberg

Key Takeaways

Netanyahu’s Government Bears Heavy Responsibility for October 7 — The article argues that the Israeli government, led by Netanyahu, failed in its most basic duty to protect citizens, with policies that strengthened Hamas and left the country catastrophically unprepared for the attack.

Lack of Accountability Persists — Despite the scale of the failure, Netanyahu refuses to accept responsibility, blaming others and resisting an independent state commission of inquiry, while the defense minister and security chiefs who did take responsibility stepped down.

The Response Has Been Morally and Strategically Flawed — The prolonged military campaigns, disproportionate force, and lack of a credible political exit strategy have caused massive civilian suffering, deepened Israel’s international isolation, and failed to deliver decisive victory, leaving the country in a state of prolonged trauma and insecurity.

To mark 1,000 days since the horrific surprise attack on Israeli border communities near the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023, many thousands of Israelis took to the streets in protest. Others visited the affected communities to pay their respects in silent vigils, carrying photographs of those killed as a reminder that the worst failure in the country’s history has a face, indeed many faces, of lives suddenly and cruelly cut short.

Common to these gatherings was a unified call for the establishment of a state commission of inquiry to investigate the failures of the government on the day of the Hamas attack, which left almost 1,200 people dead and 251 taken hostage in Gaza, as well as the conflicts on multiple fronts that followed. Yet the failure did not end on Oct. 7. More than 1,000 days later, it continues to haunt the country through a deep collective trauma and Israel’s prolonged involvement in fighting on seven fronts, with scarcely any respite. This has left little room for the country to reflect, draw lessons from what led to Oct. 7, assess what has happened since, and determine how to ensure such a catastrophe never happens again.


It needs little explanation why the current government, led by an aging, ailing, and increasingly authoritarian prime minister, who is also standing trial on corruption charges while repeatedly attempting to obstruct the judicial process, should long ago have left office. For Benjamin Netanyahu, the country’s future has become secondary to the political survival of both his government and himself.

Nothing can diminish the responsibility of Hamas and the others who carried out the Oct. 7 massacre. Nevertheless, for Israel to recover from its collective trauma, it must also understand how Netanyahu and his government, without in any way excusing the brutality of that day, contributed to creating the conditions that made such an attack possible. Equally important is asking difficult questions about the morality and wisdom of Israel’s response.

The justified anger directed at the perpetrators of Oct. 7 gradually became, for many, a justification for the destruction of large parts of Gaza. About 75,000 people are estimated to have been killed there, roughly two-thirds of them noncombatants, many of them children, while the view that “there are no innocent people in Gaza” has become disturbingly widespread in parts of Israeli society. Responding to one war crime with another can never be morally justified. It has led only to moral bankruptcy, failed to defeat Hamas, and resulted in a degree of international isolation unprecedented in Israel’s history.

The grief, pain, and sadness of families who lost loved ones will never disappear. The suffering of those who were kidnapped and later returned from captivity may gradually ease with time, but it can never be erased. Their pain and anger are only compounded by the absence of accountability from those who failed to protect them on that terrible day. They, like the rest of Israeli society, deserve answers from those who were responsible for the country’s security.

Yet this government, and above all, Netanyahu, whose lack of moral compass has become more obvious than ever, refuses to accept responsibility. Instead, they blame everyone else: the security services, the opposition for allegedly weakening the military through its resistance to the government’s assault on Israel’s democratic institutions, and even promote baseless conspiracy theories suggesting that elements within the security establishment colluded with Hamas to allow the attack to happen.

One thousand days later, the central conclusion remains straightforward. Regardless of what an independent state commission of inquiry, rather than the politically appointed body the government seeks, may ultimately conclude, it was the government of the day that failed its people, and it continues to fail them. Had its members possessed even a basic sense of public decency and integrity, they would long ago have resigned from political life, bowing their heads and asking the nation for forgiveness.

They owe this not only to the families of those murdered on Oct. 7, but also to the soldiers and civilians who have since lost their lives, to the destroyed communities, to those who endured captivity, to the reservists who have served hundreds of days away from their families, to the conscripts whose military service has been extended, and to every Israeli citizen.


Despite the nearly three years that have passed since Oct. 7, a profound sense of insecurity has become deeply entrenched throughout Israeli society. Its impact extends far beyond psychology; it has far-reaching political consequences. The most basic expectation citizens have of their government is that it will protect them from those who seek to murder or abduct them. On that fundamental test, Netanyahu, his government, and the security establishment failed in the worst possible way.

Yet, while the defense minister at the time, the heads of Israel’s security agencies, and numerous senior military commanders accepted responsibility and left their positions, Netanyahu has consistently blamed everyone but himself. What many Israelis want is a candid account of what happened, or at the very least one delivered under oath before an independent state commission of inquiry. It was, after all, Netanyahu’s policy of allowing large sums of money to flow into Hamas-controlled Gaza that helped strengthen the militant group’s rule and military capabilities, while Israel itself was catastrophically unprepared when those capabilities were ultimately turned against it.

The reckoning does not end there. One thousand days later, Israelis also deserve answers about why, despite repeated promises of “total victory,” no decisive strategic success has been achieved on any of the fronts on which Israel is fighting, even though severe damage has undoubtedly been inflicted on its enemies. Moreover, the extensive use of disproportionate force, the apparent disregard for civilian lives, and the destruction of communities and essential infrastructure in both Gaza and Lebanon have exposed an increasingly troubling side of Israel.

The government frequently argues that its public relations efforts have failed to explain or justify its policies at home and abroad. This fundamentally misunderstands the problem. The issue is not one of communication but of policy. A strategy centered on overwhelming military force, lacking a credible political or diplomatic exit strategy, and increasingly shaped by the demands of the most extreme elements within the governing coalition, is itself deeply flawed.

When leaders take their country to war, whether by choice or because war is forced on them, they have an obligation to provide a full account of their decisions and to accept responsibility when those decisions fail. One thousand long days later, the Israeli people are still waiting for that accountability. Judging by everything we have learned about Netanyahu and his political allies, the people may be waiting in vain, at least until the coming general election.

Yossi Mekelberg is a professor of international relations and an associate fellow of the MENA Program at Chatham House. X: @YMekelberg


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