In an effort to head off the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into the failures of October 7, 2023, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly mulling the possibility of setting up an alternate “special committee” to probe the matter.
According to the Israel Hayom daily, Netanyahu is currently discussing the possibility with officials in the Prime Minister’s Office and members of his ruling Likud party, with the goal of having the proposal advanced as a private member’s bill in the Knesset.
The proposed committee would be comprised of a judge, members of the military and representatives of the families of the victims, the paper reports, adding that the members would be approved by agreement between the coalition and opposition.
The reported proposal, which would apparently be designed to replace a state commission — Israel’s highest level of inquiry — was rejected by opposition leaders as a ploy.
“The worst disaster we faced since Israel’s founding cannot end with a window-dressing committee, and not in any other format that seeks to evade responsibility,” National Unity party leader Benny Gantz posted on X following the report.
“Netanyahu, enough with the inventions and evasions,” Gantz added. “As the person at the top, it is your moral duty to the murdered, the fallen, the bereaved families, the wounded, the hostages and the entire nation to establish a state commission of inquiry.”
Netanyahu has steadfastly resisted forming a state commission of inquiry into the failings leading up to Hamas’s October 7 invasion and slaughter in southern Israel or the handling of the subsequent, ongoing war. He has also said investigations must wait until after the fighting ends.
National Unity leader Benny Gantz gives a statement on October 31, 2024 (Screengrab)
State commissions of inquiry, the inquiry body that enjoys the broadest powers under Israeli law, are typically headed by a retired Supreme Court Justice. Esther Hayut would be a potential choice for that role, given that she just recently finished her tenure as president of the top court. But Netanyahu is reportedly vehemently opposed to her appointment, given her outspoken criticism of his government’s effort to radically overhaul the judiciary last year.
Faced with mounting pressure, however, he has for several months reportedly been looking into Knesset legislation to establish an independent panel headed by a figure of his choosing since June.
Addressing the Knesset this summer, Netanyahu implied that he viewed a probe of October 7 as a bureaucratic nuisance, comparing current demands for such an investigation to bureaucratic inspections of the British military during the Napoleonic wars over 200 years ago.
Addressing the nation after his ouster by Netanyahu last week, former defense minister Yoav Gallant said that one of the reasons he was fired was his insistence on the need for a state commission of inquiry.
Getting at the truth and extracting military, political and security lessons from October 7 is the only way to prepare Israeli forces for future challenges, Gallant argued.
Shortly thereafter, an independent Civilian Commission of Inquiry investigating the government’s failures on October 7 called on Gallant “to come and give your version of the events of the war.”
In late October, the inquiry sent warning notices to several current and senior officials, including Netanyahu, offering them a final opportunity to testify before the release of its findings in the coming weeks.
In March, Netanyahu’s Likud party rejected the findings of another state commission of inquiry, which had named the premier among the officials personally responsible for the 2021 Meron disaster, in which 45 Israelis were trampled to death during a pilgrimage at the grave of a revered second-century rabbi.
Former chief of the Supreme Court Miriam Naor (center) heads the Meron Disaster Inquiry Committee in Jerusalem, on August 23, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Three months later, a second commission of inquiry, investigating the so-called submarine affair, announced that it was sending a warning notice to Netanyahu because he may be harmed by its probe.
That commission of inquiry, formed under then-premier Naftali Bennett in 2022, stated that Netanyahu had “created parallel and conflicting channels of action, thereby risking the state’s security and harming Israel’s foreign relations.”
Calls to establish an October 7 commission of inquiry may get a boost from a spate of recent scandals centered on the Prime Minister’s Office.
In recent weeks, Netanyahu’s aides have faced accusations ranging from mishandling and leaking classified documents to the press, to editing meeting transcripts, to blackmailing a senior military officer.
According to the Ynet news site, the probe into the altered documents may relate to how much knowledge the premier had of the potential for a Hamas attack immediately before the October 7, 2023, massacre took place.
Netanyahu has said the allegations amount to “a wild and unbridled attack.”
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
