Government approves independent probe into Oct. 7 failures

Opposition: Such a commission will only “escape the truth and evade responsibility.”

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

The government voted Sunday to form an independent state probe into the failures that led to the Hamas-led invasion and massacre of Oct. 7, 2023.

Although the war hasn’t ended, the decision stated that since there is currently a cease-fire in Gaza and the fighting is in an “interim state,” the government will “take advantage of this to promote the establishment of a committee that will be independent and have full investigative powers, and its composition will reflect broad public consensus as much as possible.”

According to the decision, Netanyahu will establish a ministerial committee that will recommend within 45 days the exact issues the committee will examine.

The vote was held in compliance with an Oct. 15 High Court order to the government to deliver, within 30 days, an update about the formation of a state commission of inquiry into what happened on Oct. 7.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given two main reasons for resisting the establishment of such a commission, which critics demanded almost as soon as the war began.

He said it could not take place while Israel was in the midst of fighting a seven-front war, as the top political and military echelons needed all their time to focus on the battles at hand.

He has also repeatedly said that the “crucial question is who investigates the truth,” as he stated last week in a Knesset session on the subject.

He refused to approve a commission where “half the people believe that its conclusions are written in advance,” he said.

The president of the Supreme Court appoints the members of a state commission of inquiry, which has broad subpoena powers and can recommend legal action against individuals.

The government firmly believes that current head Yitzhak Amit leans far to the left in his political views, which, it says, colors his judicial rulings. Therefore, it does not trust him to appoint fair-minded individuals to a commission.

In the Knesset, Netanyahu suggested a “parity-based commission of inquiry,” such as the one established in the United States after the 9/11 terror attack in 2001, which included “Republicans and Democrats alike.”

Critics have slammed anything other than a state commission as an attempted whitewash, saying the government cannot appoint its own investigators, who could not be trusted to be objective, as their deliberations would be tainted by an inherent conflict of interest.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid immediately charged: “The government is doing everything it can to escape the truth and evade responsibility. There is broad public consensus on a state commission of inquiry. This is what the country needs; this is what the public demands, and this is what will happen.”

“Their refusal to investigate their failures endangers the security of the state, constitutes an insult and an evasion of responsibility toward the soldiers and families who have sacrificed so much since Oct. 7,” he added.

An Israel Democracy Institute poll published Sept. 30 found that 74% of the population are in favor establishing a state commission of inquiry to investigate the events of Oct. 7, including 68% of right-wing voters, who generally support the government.