Oct 7 failures: Gov't minister to set up 'independent investigative commission'

The Israeli government decided on Sunday to set up an “independent” commission of inquiry into the failures on Oct. 7, 2023, rather than a state commission, as the opposition has long demanded.

The commission will receive “full investigative powers, and its composition will reflect as broad a public consensus as possible,” the government said.

Its members will be nominated and its powers delineated by a ministerial committee appointed by the prime minister.

According to Israel Hayom, the decision was made now due to increasing worries that the government could collapse soon, triggering new elections. In that scenario, the current ministers reportedly pushed to establish a commission of inquiry now, so as to preempt it being formed by the next government, potentially led by the opposition.

The cabinet ministers are split in their opinions over the commission. Minister Ze’ev Elkin (New Hope) reportedly proposed nominating the Supreme Court’s deputy president, who is seen as conservative, to head the commission.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, on the other hand, is said to push for a commission with more independence, led by a retired President of the Supreme Court. He argued that “it is important to maintain the principle that the political leadership does not determine the composition.”

The government’s statement did not specify the intended scope of the commission’s powers, only noting it would have “full investigative authority.”

In the past, state-level commissions were created several times to investigate major failures like the Yom Kippur War in 1973, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination in 1995, or the Mount Meron stampede in 2021.

The government has long argued that a state-level commission could not be set up while the country was still at war.

It also claims that the president of the High Court, whom some of the cabinet ministers have refused to acknowledge, could not be trusted to set up an independent and fair-minded commission whose results would find broad acceptance by the public.

The opposition has been demanding a state commission and reacted furiously to the government’s decision.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid cited several polls indicating that “There is broad public agreement on the need for a state commission of inquiry.”

He added that the government’s “refusal to investigate their failures endangers the security of the state, constitutes an insult, and is an escape from responsibility.”

Former MK Gadi Eisenkot charged that “the October 7 government, whose leaders are the only ones refusing to take responsibility for the worst disaster in Israel’s history and are unfit to hold any leadership position – is establishing a whitewashing, crooked commission.”

“Instead of revealing the truth about the horrific massacre, the failure government is establishing a whitewashing commission,” the chairman of the hawkish Yisrael Beiteinu party, MK Avigdor Liberman, stated.

“No one will escape – we will establish a state commission of inquiry; everything will be examined, everyone will be investigated,” he added.