Jerusalem, 11 February, 2026 (TPS-IL) — prime ministerBenjamin Netanyahu’s office sparked outrage Wednesday by requesting the removal of the word “massacre” from a Knesset bill commemorating the October 7 attacks. Yoel Elbaz, representing the office, told the Knesset’s Education Committee that memory “builds resilience” and preferred terms like “events and incidents.”
“We went through a lot of strategy and decided to call it events and incidents, because there was not only a massacre, there was also a massacre and this word appears later in the proposed text. I don’t know how many will remember the name of the law, but the activity that the corporation will do, which will also preserve the massacre,” Elbaz said.
The committee was meeting to establish a memorial authority in the Western Negev that includes a memorial, museum and archive related to Hamas’ attack on southern Israel. Around 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken captive on October 7, 2023.
Bereaved families slammed the proposal. “It doesn’t make sense for the Prime Minister’s Office to manage the event when it is the one preventing the investigation. Are you letting the cat keep the cream?” said Hila Abir, whose brother was killed at the Nova Music Festival. The all-night music festival, attended by 3,500 people near Kibbutz Re’im, became a killing field where 364 people were massacred and 40 others were taken hostage. Of all the locations attacked by Hamas that day, Nova’s death toll was the highest.
The committee approved merging private and government bills, setting a national day of remembrance, and establishing a memorial authority in the western Negev.
The term “massacre” was removed from the bill for the time being, but acting chairman MK Yosef Taib said the issue would be further discussed before a final vote, adding, “There will be no whitewashing.”
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