Michal Negri to 'Post': My son took responsibility on Oct. 7, our leaders must too - interview

During the October 7 massacre, Israelis on the ground took action, battling Hamas terrorists who infiltrated and murdered some 1,200 people and dragged 251 hostages into Gaza.

Michal Negri, a former director-general of the Ra’anana Municipality, lost her son on October 7 while battling the terrorists. She has called on Israel’s political leadership to take responsibility for the failures of that day.

“Like my son, hundreds [of civilians] that day just took responsibility [and action].”

“They were brave, they were responsible, and they were leaders. And I expect the [Israeli] leadership to act in the same way,” Negri told The Jerusalem Post in a recent interview.

Negri is now running for the Knesset in the seventh slot on the B’Yachad list led by former prime minister Naftali Bennett ahead of the October 27 elections.

IDF Maj. (res.) Roee Negri killed in Kibbutz Be’eri fighting Hamas terrorists

Negri’s son, Maj. (res.) Roee Negri, 28, was killed fighting Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the hardest-hit communities on October 7, after spending the day rescuing civilians. He had organized and led teams of soldiers who described the kibbutz as the place where “the gates of hell opened,” Negri said.

Nobody in the IDF had called up Roee to go south to Be’eri. He had gone on his own and entered with his team, house by house, dividing up the kibbutz with his team as they fought against Hamas terrorists.

“He insisted on going first in every house,” Negri said.

After the loss of her son, Negri said that she had never thought about going into politics. However, she decided to do so after Bennett reached out to her, as she felt she could have the biggest impact by joining his party.

Bennett’s B’Yachad party is one of the leading parties in the opposition bloc seeking to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the October elections. The party has recently been polling around 13-15 seats, putting Negri in a strong position to enter the Knesset.

Negri said that the first thing she considered most important after October 7 was for the country’s leadership to take responsibility and for a state commission of inquiry to be conducted.

Three years after the massacre, no probe has yet been established to investigate government failures, amid an ongoing dispute over what kind of investigation should be conducted and who should lead it.

“First of all, everyone that was in the government, in any position of management, has to take responsibility and be inquired, so we will be sure that it will never happen again.”

“How can you be sure that it will not happen again if you don’t inquire and ask questions?” she continued.

“I think they owe it – first of all, to the families that gave all they had. They owe it to the people that were torn out of their houses, they owe it to the people that were murdered, they owe it to the people that were raped, and they owe it to every citizen in Israel.”

Negri: Anyone in gov't on Oct. 7 'should have stepped down three years ago'

She said Netanyahu should have stepped down immediately the day after the attacks.

“All of them should have stepped down and said, ‘let’s think, let’s take the responsibility.’”

“Anyone that was there [in the government during] October 7 should have stepped down three years ago.”

Regarding Netanyahu’s attempts to pass a contentious law for a political probe into October 7, Negri said that this was another attempt to avoid responsibility and “set the fire to anyone else but them – and this is not the way that I think a leader should act.”

Negri told the Post that the upcoming elections “are crucial.”

“I think the country needs a new leadership... a leadership that sees the people.”

“What we have experienced in the last years is a leadership that sees only itself, that works for itself, and that is interested in staying and doing anything that will keep them on their chairs,” she added.

Negri said that during and immediately after the October 7 attacks, she had also seen that Israel has citizens that are “the best people in the world.”

“I think that we can all go back to where we were together, fighting together and loving together and working together and building this country together and all the communities to come together,” she said.

“We are in a country that needs to be healed, needs to have quiet, and needs to have a leadership and government that works for it and that takes care of it, and gives the people the quiet and the safety,” Negri added.