In its sitting on Wednesday, the Knesset Plenum voted to approve in first reading two bills for commemoration of the October 7 events.
The first bill approved in first reading was the Commemoration of the October 7 Events Bill, 2025. In the vote, 18 Members of Knesset supported the bill, without opposing votes, and it will be turned over to the Education, Culture and Sports Committee for deliberation.
It is proposed to designate the 24th of Tishrei as a national memorial day for marking the October 7 events. On this day, as proposed in the bill, state ceremonies will be held, the flag will be lowered to half-mast in state institutions and a special debate will be held by the Knesset.
It is further proposed to establish a commemoration, memorial and heritage authority for the October 7 events, which will work to carry out the actions for commemoration and preservation of the national memory. In addition, a commemoration site and a museum will be set up in the western Negev region.
It is further proposed that until creation of the authority, the Prime Minister’s Office will coordinate the memory, documentation and commemoration activities, and that the minister in charge of the bill’s implementation will be the Prime Minister.
The explanatory notes to the bill state: “This bill is based on the conception that preservation of memory, documentation and development of heritage are essential to the rehabilitation and development of the localities, and bear great weight in the rehabilitation of Israeli society. The commemoration and memory contribute to strengthening the personal, community, regional and national resilience, and to strengthening national and international solidarity and unity, by forging a meaningful bond between the past and the future, connecting the citizens to the shared national story and enabling the members of bereaved families to find a supportive community.”
Also approved in first reading was the Marking the Memory of the Massacre and Commemorating the Heroism of October 7 Bill, 2025, sponsored by MK Etty Hava Atia (Likud) and a group of MKs, to which a bill sponsored by MK Naama Lazimi (Labor) was attached. In the vote, 18 Members of Knesset supported the bill, without opposing votes, and it will be returned to the Education, Culture and Sports Committee for deliberation.
This bill proposes to establish a national memorial day on the 24th of Tishrei, in order to preserve the October 7 events in the national consciousness for generations. The day will be marked, among other things, by a state memorial ceremony, a special debate in the Knesset and ceremonies and activities in educational institutions. It is proposed that the national flag will be lowered to half-mast and that broadcast programming will express the special character of the day. It is also proposed to establish a memorial authority that will be a statutory corporation and will operate to fulfill the purposes of the bill.
The explanatory notes to the bill state: “The purpose of the bill is to ensure that the October 7 events will be remembered for generations, including the acts of massacre and terrorism and the kidnapping of civilians and members of the security forces; to honor and commemorate the fallen and those who were killed; to document the stories of the massacre’s survivors and the resilience displayed by the people of Israel.”
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