Problem, Reaction, Solution: Facts leading to October 7

January 4, 2023: Likud announces controversial judicial overhaul, threatening Israel’s democracy. The bill removes Supreme Court ability to revoke laws passed in Knesset, gives Knesset full control to appoint Supreme Court Judges, and no longer requires MKs (Members of Knesset) to follow legal guidance of the Knesset ‘watchdogs’, Supreme Court Legal Advisers.

January 12, 2023 - Israeli Supreme Court President Esther Hayut warns that Bibi’s plan to overhaul Israel's judicial system is aimed at “crushing” the independent judiciary and, if implemented, will “deal a fatal blow” to the country's democracy
January 14, 2023 - The largest protest crowds in Israeli history begin protesting weekly in Tel Aviv, with 80K week 1 February 13, 2023 – Protests reach an estimated 250,000 Israeli’s

March 5, 2023 – 37 of the 40 fighter pilots in Israel’s elite air force unit, Squadron 69, protested Netanyahu’s actions. March 9, 2023 – Israeli Air Force Officers warn IDF that most reservists will cease flying if overhaul passes

March 22, 2023 – 100 senior Air Force reservists, 100 armored corp officer reservists, and 700 reservists from Nahal Brigade join the 180 reservist pilots, 50 controllers, and 40 drone operators who already announced protests.

March 24, 2023 – Netanyahu forces a Knesset vote on first part of the bill despite protests and warnings not to. Knesset removed the Supreme Court authority to remove the Prime Minister or declare them incapacitated
March 25, 2023 – Yoav Gallant calls for the legislation to be frozen as protest leaders announce unprecedented nationwide “week of paralysis” to upend daily life in the country, including mass protests in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem
March 26, 2023 – Netanyahu fires Yoav Gallant; In response, Israel’s Consul-General in New York resigns and within hours tens of thousands of Israelis are protesting in Beersheba, Haifa and Jerusalem

March 27, 2023 – Mass protests continue through the night, Universities announce they will strike March 28, shutting down general industry, from airports to petrol stations; The Supreme Court is asked to sanction NetanyahuMarch 29, 2023 – President Biden says Israel “cannot continue down this road”, he will not invite Netanyahu to visit in “near term”, he wants Bibi to “walk away” from overhaul, and he’s very concerned for democracy; Netanyahu retorts: Won’t bow to overseas pressure, even from ‘best of friends’

April 8, 2023 - "The Hundred Days War: "Chronicles of a government in chaos and a nation at the brink" details the first 100 days of Bibi's assault on democracy and the division within Israel

April 10, 2023 – Netanyahu reverses his decision to fire Gallant due to pressure from the protest and military strike, which was unprecedented and the first of it’s kind in Israeli history

July 14, 2023 – “The disagreement has led to fears of civil war between the different factions”

July 15, 2023 – A wave of senior fighter pilots, elite commandos and cyber-intelligence specialists will no longer report for duty, and the list of official resignations now includes fighter pilots, flying instructors, drone operators, senior hackers in Unit 8200 and senior reserve officers in Sayeret Matkal, the elite commando unit Netanyahu served in
July 18, 2023 – IDF reservists block military base; Opposition parties have now filed over 27,000 Petitions to stop bill

July 19, 2023 – Joe Biden indicates ‘special relationship’ with Israel is on the line in absence of consensus on overhaul

July 22, 2023 - Le Monde reports 50 members of Unit 8200 (cyber-intelligence), members of the special forces unit Sayeret Matkal, which Bibi served in, hundreds of military doctors, and 161 air force officers cease their volunteer service
July 22, 2023 NPR reports “Hundreds of thousands march in Israel against Netanyahu's judicial overhaul”
July 23, 2023 – Thousands of military pilots and soldiers threaten to not report if Bibi doesn’t back down, thousands of protesters spend up to 6-nights outdoors protesting, form human chain from Western Wall to Knesset

July 23, 2023 - Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) published an “urgent alert” that the IDF is at risk of dissolution; warns of the “adoption of a new strategy, whose core is to crush any Palestinian national aspirations, destroy the option of a political settlement, prepare the conditions for annexation of Area C to Israel, and then create a situation of “one state with Jewish supremacy.” This strategy is expressed by: Exploiting the escalation in terror to convey a “suitable Zionist response”
July 24, 2023 – Knesset votes 64-0 to revoke Supreme Court ability to overrule government decisions. Every member of the Likud coalition voted to remove it, while all 56 MKs who opposed protested by refusing to vote, shouting “Shame” as they left. The Israeli Medical Association announces that 95% of doctors and 73% of interns are holding a 24-hour protest

July 25, 2023 – Moody’s issues “significant risk” credit rating warning on Israeli economy, analysts note “Israeli economy has lost some $81 billion, or 15% of the country’s GDP, because of the judicial reforms and the impact on the economy.”

July 26, 2023 – “Nearly 10,000 military reservists” will refuse to volunteer for duty beginning Monday, July 31, 2023

September 12, 2023 – Supreme Court hearings challenging overhaul begin; all 15 justices hear the appeals to the law together for the first time in the country’s history
September 13, 2023 – Amnesty International: “Stripping Israel’s courts of their oversight powers would give Israeli authorities even greater licence to commit crimes (against Palestinians) under international law, with no trace of restraint.” and “Since December 2022, the Israeli government has escalated longstanding racist rhetoric and systematic violations against Palestinians.”

September 20, 2023 – Biden meets with Netanyahu for the first time since Bibi returned to office, discussing the judicial overhaul crisis, as well as Israel’s treatment to Palestinians, and US support for a two-state solution
September 27, 2023 – Biden adds Israel to the Visa Waiver Program, allowing free travel to America for all Israelis

DETAILS ABOUT ISRAELI KNOWLEDGE OF THE PENDING HAMAS ATTACK, AMERICAN HOSTAGES, CHANGING THE VENUE, AND APPROVING A FESTIVAL DATE ON OCTOBER 7 THAT WAS NOT APPROVED UNTIL OCTOBER 4, ONCE KNOWLEDGE OF THE ATTACK WAS KNOWN.

September 27, 2023 – Egypt contacts Smadar Perry at Jerusalem Post: “an Egyptian intelligence official called me, urging me to relay an important warning. “Something big is about to happen in Gaza,” he said, explaining that Egypt had informed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office of the imminent threat. “We warned Prime Minister Netanyahu that something catastrophic was going to happen within days from Hamas against Israel”October 2, 2023 – The Nova Music festival did not receive approval from Israeli Air Defense, so on October 2: “event organizers asked for the permit to be extended from the Unity part of October 5-6 to October 7 to include the Nova party. The police immediately agreed to the extension, but IDF Gaza Division Head Brig. Gen. Avi Rosenfeld and Northern Brigade Commander Col. Haim Cohen objected at first.”

October 3, 2023 – Another festival, "Land of the Sun" (Eretz HaShemesh) scheduled Oct 3–4 in Kibbutz Lehavot HaBashan in north Israel, is abruptly shut down shortly after it is started related to safety concerns of rocket shelters and emergency prep. issues. Attendees of this festival are told of a new festival date in Re'im on October 7.
These links have geo-location restrictions from users in the United States, and/or content topics or even entire categories that Google has removed from their index, or hides from results. NOTE: Mojeek.com and Yandex.com are both search engines that index more Hebrew than Google; Mojeek has no filtering out of articles vs. heavy filtering and censorship on Google. Both Mojeek or Yandex will return results you can never find using Google.
If using Google the most effective way to search is by changing your IP location outside the United States to result in more search index results.To search Google Cache: Prefix any URL with cache: (e.g., cache:ynet.co.il/...).
To Google Site-Search Hebrew Newspapers, paste these into Google:
site:ynet.co.il "פסטיבל ארץ השמש בוטל" 2023
site:maariv.co.il "ביטול פסטיבל" AND "3 באוקטובר"Citations are:
1 - Kol HaGalil article: "הפסטיבל בוטל: המארגנים כועסים על הרשויות" (Festival Canceled: Organizers Angry at Authorities")
2 - Kan News article: "פסטיבל בצפון בוטל בדקה ה-90 בשל מחסור במקלטים" (Northern Festival Canceled Last Minute Due to Lack of Shelters")
3 - Yedioth Ahronoth article: "בוטל פסטיבל 'ארץ השמש' בגלל בעיות רישוי" ("Land of the Sun Festival Canceled Due to Permit Issues")
4 - Posts on October 3 on the Festival’s Official Instagram, @eretz.hashemesh

October 3, 2023 – BBC reports Egypt warns Israel of an impending attack: “Hamas is planning something huge”
October 3, 2023 – Haaretz reports “the party was originally planned for Thursday and Friday, with an extra day on Saturday added only on Tuesday of that week”
October 4, 2023 – Times of Israel reports IDF approves the festival to be extended to October 7. “I see that the army isn’t approving October 7, and I turn to the senior officer in the Southern Command, and I ask him a very precise question: Is there some security consideration that I should be aware of?” recalled Eyal Azulai, the commander responsible for the festival, in the TV report. “The answer I received was that the consideration wasn’t about security. In fact, the Southern Command was debating whether to approve the plans for Saturday due to concerns about Hamas activity along the border fence.”

October 4, 2023 – Billboard reports Artists playing at Supernova state the Nova Music Festival’s original location in northern Israel, “falls through” and they’re told of the new festival location in Re’im.
Israeli food and lifestyle platfrom YomYom (YomYom is Hebrew-only. Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge to translate Hebrew sites to English. Browsers such as Mozilla and Brave do not have Hebrew translation available) reports that attendees were notified the same day:
"The party was supposed to take place in Mitzpe Ramon, but the day before it turned out that the organizers had not received permission and decided to attach it to another party that was supposed to take place in the Re'im area. We only received the exact location of the party when we were already on our way. When I heard about the location, which was right on the border, I said to the guys in the car with me - do you understand that we are going to dance with Hamas?"

October 6-7, 2023 - Top Israeli defense officials held urgent overnight consultations about a possible Hamas attack. Officials "received warnings the night before that the organization would try to stage an attack inside Israel."
"A second consultation, which included now Ronen Bar, the Shin Bet chief, took place at about 3 A.M. Saturday. The commander of the Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade, Col. Haim Cohen, who signed the papers on October 5 authorizing the Nova party, was aware of the warnings, and knew about the urgent meetings that were taking place that night."
At 4 A.M., following concerns by some in the security establishment, a few teams of the special anti-terror unit at the Latrun base, were notified to be on alert until dawn.
*The first IDF forces only arrived at the party scene at 3 P.M."

Details about the "8 American hostages"October 6, 2023 – American citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin was in Israel to attend "Land of the Sun" (Eretz HaShemesh), the other festival scheduled for Oct 3–4 in Kibbutz Lehavot HaBashan, far from the Gaza borde,r in northern Israel. He "left at 11 p.m. to go to the Supernova desert festival" , because the Eretz HaShemesh festival was cancelled. Note *American Jewish Committee - AJC - updates this article by reducing the number of hostages when they are released. As of June 10, when this page was created, the site lists two hostages outstanding; both are confirmed dead, but the AJC considers their bodies "kidnapped". Archived versions of this article capture the original details. Meet the Eight American Hostages Still Held by HamasThe archive links provide details of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, but also details of the original 8 American hostages reported to be taken.While all eight names were victims, only two of the names can meet the definition of "American civilians kidnapped" on October 7th; Hersh Goldberg-Polin, and Keith Siegel, though Hersh is the only hostage that reasonably meets the spirit of an American civilian, as Keith has lived in Israel for 40-years and identifies as an Israeli before an American.Of the eight reported hostages, three of them - Edan Alexander, Omer Neutra, and Itay Chen Z”L - were on active duty serving in the Israeli military, and weren't "civilian" casualties or hostages.Omer Neutra and Itay Chen Z"L were confirmed killed on October 7, and as active military members who died in battle, cannot be accurately referred to as civilians or hostages.Edan returned home May 12, 2025, in a release deal Donald Trump negotiated directly with Hamas. Edan was a prisoner of war, but cannot be accurately referred to as a civilian or hostage.Two more of the names claimed as American civilian hostages were confirmed killed on October 7th -Gadi Haggai Z”L, and Judith Weinstein Haggai Z”L. No evidence exists to suggest Gadi was a dual citizen, or that he so much as visited America since he came after finishing his service in the Israeli military orchestra as first flutist in the 1970s.Sagui Dekel-Chen is the grandson of American citizens, was a civilian taken hostage on October 7th, and has since been released. But he was born and raised in Israel, where he has lived his entire life, and it is unknown why he would be claimed an American civilian hostage.All deaths from October 7th are tragic. But it is unnecessary to traffic in manufactured emotion and outrage. Two "American civilians" were taken as hostage. One that considered himself an American, who was a completely innocent victim; Hersh Goldberg-Polin.It is necessary to report all American deaths equally, and as American deaths have been used to obtain public support and as justification for American's continued support for Israel, it is not just criminal, it is unthinkably evil and cruel to fail to so much as acknowledge the 12 American civilians killed by Israelis since October 7, or the dozens kidnapped and still held by Israel.Details about the "dozen American civilians killed by Israeli's"It is incorrect to say 12 Americans have been killed. At least 12 unarmed American civilian citizens have been killed by Israeli troops since October 7th.Five of the mudered American civilians were minors.One was killed on US soil, a 6-year old boy who was stabbed to death in Illinois when the landlord stabbed him and his mother, who survived the race-based hate-crime.One of them, Hani Jnena, was a 33 year old USAID worker killed November 5th along with his wife, their 2-year-old and 4-year-old daughters, and her family.One of them was accused of being a member of Hamas by Israel after his death was reported. Israel has lost the benefit of any doubt and any claim of theirs requires evidence, which has not been provided, but maybe he was. But this is just one of the American lives lost to IDF, it's not needed for Israel to be responsible for more American deaths than Hamas is. It's black-and-white, Israel has killed more American's than Hamas has, and our media is not keeping us informed, because it was done by Israel. If they were killed by Hamas, we'd have multiple bills named after them by now, instead of radio silence, diversion, and distraction.Israeli troops or citizens killing American citizens deserve the same attention, but have received very little recognition. Virtually no recognition. Neither have the dozens of Americans taken prisoner by Israel, without charges or a hearing set, and denied US consulate access.Aside from the Congressman from New Orleans, Troy Carter, who did lead a campaign to push Israel to release names and provide the State Dept with information that was being withheld, no US politician has so much as made a voluntary statement for any of the dozens of Americans killed or kidnapped by Israel. He is the reason consulate access was finally provided to American citizen Samaher Esmail, who was detained in her home in West Bank by IDF in the middle of the night for 10-year old Facebooks posts with 8 and 10 likes, respectively, and is now awaiting a military court hearing where they convict 99% of the accused. Here nor there, initially, Israel wouldn't even tell the US where she was being detained, or allow consulate access. When we finally were allowed to talk to our own citizen a week later, we learned she had been denied her diabetes medicine.Samaher was from the same town in Louisiana, Gretna, that 17 year old Tawfic Abdel Jabbar was from. Tawfic was gunned down while driving, because there were reports of young Palestinians in the area throwing rocks.Tawfic was driving. IDF said a stray bullet hit him in the head. The pickup truck was run off the road, there are 10 bullet holes from behind, and the inside of the cab is splattered with blood, showing 2 victims. Tawfic was an American.These are real deaths. Of real Americans. That cannot be found by simple Google searches, though once you have their name to search you can find their stories pretty easily. Here are some more of their stories you can search (on Yandex.com or Mojeek.com) if you're interested in learning more.
- ______ Abushaaban, first name withheld by family ((Minor; 13-year old female; name withheld by her brother Youssef Abushaaban in Gaza)
- Unnamed American Child Killed by Israeli airstrikes at Al-Ahli Hospital
- Tawfiq Abdel Jabbar - 17-year old, shot while driving
- Mohammad Khdour - 17-year old, shot while driving
- Jacob Flickinger - American World Central Kitchen aid worker
- Osama al-Zebda - Killed in airstrike; afterwards Israel claimed he was a member of Hamas
- Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi - shot in head during protest in West Bank
- Kamel Ahmad Jawad - killed by Israeli airstrike in Lebanon in October of 2024There are almost certainly a significant amount more that are as of yet, and may remain, unknown.This part is not debatable. Unless you accept the notion that Israeli-American lives are more valuable than the lives of any other American citizens, "American hostages" cannot be a reason used to support Israel, nor can it be used as a reason to even be involved, unless, and until, equal concern, coverage, and consequence is applied for the captors or killers of any American citizens.The only other thing I'll say is unequivocally and undeniably true, is that western media has not provided balanced coverage or the whole story, specifically choosing to avoid coverage that could paint Israel in a bad light or go against the narrative that all of Israel's actions since October 7 have relied on.As far as the context of a country in crisis with a military striking, a military that outside of reversing the judicial overhaul, only a national security event could unify.. Along with the intel, venue changes, delayed response, and more, you'll need to come to your own conclusion.The video below contains first hand testimony from 25 Israeli hostages from October 7th, as well as 2 Israeli search and rescue workers and one Israeli colonel, all giving very different accounts of what actually happened October 7th. If you care about the hostages, you should care to hear what these 25 have to say."Know the truth. The truth matters.