The Senate remembers and honors, many Knesset members with families of 10/7 victims

A personal column by Ruby Chen, father of Staff Sergeant Itai Chen, who compares the US Senate's decision to remember the victims of October 7 with the lack of a similar decision in the Israeli Knesset. Chen criticizes the politicization of bereavement in Israel, attacks Prime Minister Netanyahu for not establishing a state commission of inquiry and for failing to create a shared national memory, and calls on Knesset members to adopt a bipartisan resolution.

A personal opinion column by Ruby Chen, father of Staff Sergeant Itai Chen, who fell on October 7, 2023, and was held captive in Gaza for 760 days. Chen opens by describing a joint resolution passed in the US Senate, initiated by Republican Senator Rick Scott and Democratic Senator Jackie Rosen, commemorating the American citizens murdered and kidnapped on October 7. The resolution lists the victims by name and age, condemns Hamas, thanks the Biden and Trump administrations for their diplomatic efforts, and obligates the US government to continue supporting the families and bring the murderers to justice. Chen emphasizes that the resolution's main importance lies in its bipartisanship, placing pain above political division. In contrast, Chen describes an opposite reality in Israel: the Knesset has not passed a similar resolution, and instead, during the current election campaign, opposite statements are heard. He quotes a Likud candidate who called for returning a former 88-year-old hostage to Hamas, and another who said that if the right-wing camp does not win, the memory of their loved ones will disappear. Chen attacks Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for not establishing a state commission of inquiry in the three years since the disaster, for not gathering the nation around a shared memory, and for not bringing to the Knesset a resolution that all factions could sign. He calls on Knesset members from all factions to bring a joint resolution modeled on the Senate, and states that if the Prime Minister does not lead this, it will be a test for voters. Chen ends with a painful personal mention: the last time Netanyahu tried to mention his son's name, he got it wrong.