Three years after the massacres of October 7, 2023 – the deadliest attack on civilians ever suffered by Israel – an entire society remains locked in profound trauma. The brutality unleashed by these massacres, committed by Hamas in communities along the perimeter of the Gaza Strip, largely explains the state in which Israelis find themselves. They have long been held in suspense over the fate of loved ones held hostage in Gaza for months under dire conditions.

The sense of deadlock created by this unprecedented terrorist operation runs deep because it has awakened existential fears rooted in a long history. It has convinced the majority of Israelis of the impossibility of peaceful coexistence with the other people living on the land of the former Mandatory Palestine at the time of Israel's founding. The massacres of Israeli civilians completely delegitimized the narrative once championed by the so-called "peace camp." The trauma, however, has been exploited by Israel's far-right supremacist movement, which openly advocates for ethnic cleansing targeting all Palestinians. It has also reinforced a tendency to ignore Palestinians, who had already been rendered invisible since the Second Intifada (2000-2004) and the construction of a "separation barrier" in the West Bank – a process paradoxically accompanied by an increase in settlements on the other side.

Unprecedented international isolation This tendency has prevented any critical examination of the military response that resulted in the destruction of Gaza. It has also stifled debate over the destructive consequences of settlement expansion and the blockade of Gaza in place before October 7, as well as any serious reflection on the real terms of resolving the region's oldest conflict in the Middle East. This denial explains Israel's bewilderment at its historically unprecedented international isolation, illustrated by changing attitudes within the Democratic Party in the United States, a phenomenon that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attributes solely to antisemitism.

The sense of deadlock was reinforced by Netanyahu's actions. Aside from individual resignations of senior army and intelligence officials, no political leader was held accountable for October 7. Already responsible for undermining Israel's democratic nature through his assault on the rule of law, the prime minister did everything possible, successfully, to block the creation of an investigative commission.

Yet, revelations about warnings he reportedly received from Arab allies before the massacres – which he categorically denied – show just how necessary a fully transparent review of the decisions that allowed this security debacle to occur would have been. Israelis are indeed set to go to the polls on October 27. But they will do so without access to the information needed to understand how this tragedy could have happened.

The successive wars over the past three years against the regional axis built by Iran – and above all, the ongoing conflict with the Iranian regime – also mean that these elections will not provide an opportunity for a potential protest vote over the failures of October 7. Such a vote would nevertheless be essential if there is to be any hope of challenging a policy that is leading the country into the abyss.