{"id":137042,"date":"2025-11-16T23:16:35","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T23:16:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/137042\/"},"modified":"2025-11-16T23:16:35","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T23:16:35","slug":"government-moves-to-appoint-own-probe-into-oct-7-nixing-state-commission-of-inquiry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/137042\/","title":{"rendered":"Government moves to appoint own probe into Oct. 7, nixing state commission of inquiry"},"content":{"rendered":"

The government on Sunday reportedly decided to establish its own probe into the failures surrounding Hamas\u2019s October 7, 2023, onslaught rather than the state commission of inquiry traditionally formed to investigate such events and supported by a majority of Israelis.<\/p>\n

Despite being touted as an \u201cindependent\u201d investigation, the government commission\u2019s mandate will be determined by cabinet ministers, and the government will strive for its makeup to receive \u201cas broad public approval as possible,\u201d Hebrew media reported.<\/p>\n

It will reportedly have \u201cfull investigative authority,\u201d although the scope of that authority was not publicly specified.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will form a special ministerial panel that will be in charge of determining the commission\u2019s mandate, including the topics and timeframes that will be probed, the reports said. The ministerial panel will have 45 days to submit its recommendations to the government.<\/p>\n

The government has long opposed the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 onslaught, originally on the grounds that such an inquiry could not be conducted while Israel was at war, but later due to accusations that the Supreme Court could not be trusted to appoint a fair-minded judge or retired judge to head the panel.<\/p>\n

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A state commission of inquiry is established by the government, but its members are then appointed by the Supreme Court president and are entirely independent of government control. It also has unique powers of investigation, including to subpoena witnesses.<\/p>\n

State commissions of inquiry have been established in the past to look into many military failures, including the events of the Yom Kippur War in 1973, and the Sabra and Shatila massacre in Lebanon in 1982.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tSoldiers walking next to the destruction by Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023, in southern Israel, November 21, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

Addressing the Knesset last Monday, Netanyahu insisted<\/a> that the Israeli public would not accept such a commission and that his government wanted to establish a probe<\/a> \u201cwith as broad public support as possible,\u201d and not one rejected by what he claimed is \u201cat least half the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only way to ensure public trust in the commission\u2019s work is through broad agreement on its composition,\u201d he said, calling for the establishment of a \u201cbipartisan commission\u201d similar to the US Congress\u2019s 9\/11 Commission.<\/p>\n

Polls have consistently indicated a clear majority of Israelis support a state commission, and Netanyahu himself backed such an inquiry into the conduct of the previous government in 2022.<\/p>\n

Previous state commissions of inquiry have named Netanyahu among the officials personally responsible<\/a> for the 2021 Meron disaster and said that the premier made decisions that endangered national security<\/a> and harmed Israel\u2019s foreign relations.<\/p>\n

Opposition politicians, good governance groups and hostages\u2019 families have all demanded the establishment of a state commission of inquiry, with some even turning to the courts to force the issue.<\/p>\n

The High Court of Justice told the government on October 15 that there was \u201cno real argument<\/a>\u201d against the need to establish a state commission of inquiry, giving the government 30 days to submit a new update about \u201cthe fate\u201d of such a commission.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\tSupreme Court President Isaac Amit, right, with Supreme Court Deputy President Noam Sohlberg during his swearing-in ceremony, at the President\u2019s Residence in Jerusalem, February 13, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

Internal disagreement<\/p>\n

Despite Sunday\u2019s decision, the cabinet failed to agree on how the new commission should be organized or the scope of its investigation.<\/p>\n

Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli called for a panel in which both the coalition and opposition could veto candidates, the Maariv daily reported, while the Calcalist site quoted Minister Ze\u2019ev Elkin as proposing that conservative justice Noam Solberg, the High Court\u2019s deputy president, choose its members.<\/p>\n

In a long post on Telegram, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa\u2019ar wrote that he recommended that the government amend the law in order to allow retired High Court justices to select the members of the panel, insisting that \u201cit is important to maintain the principle that the political leadership does not determine the composition.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this regard, there is no difference whether the composition is determined by the government alone or by the government together with the opposition, since opposition leaders have previously served as prime ministers, defense ministers and chiefs of staff. They are also involved parties,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Several firebrand politicians expressed strong opposition to any judicial involvement, with both Regional Cooperation Minister Dudi Amsalem and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir calling on the commission to investigate the courts and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tNational Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir is seen at the entrance to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem\u2019s Old City. October 8, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg\/FLASH90)<\/p>\n

The coalition is also reportedly seeking to broaden the scope of the investigation beyond the October 7 attack, the failures that allowed it to occur and the subsequent war, and look at the supposed impact of anti-government protests and decisions by the High Court of Justice on Hamas\u2019s decision to attack.<\/p>\n

The investigation would \u201cinclude the role of the High Court, the role of former defense ministers, and the role of the [anti-government] protest movement,\u201d Ynet quoted a senior Likud official as saying last month.<\/p>\n

\u2018Whitewashing\u2019<\/p>\n

Critics accuse Netanyahu \u2014 who, unlike all other senior officials at the time of the attack, has not publicly taken responsibility for the failures surrounding October 7 \u2014 of seeking to establish a governmental committee over whose makeup he will have greater control<\/a>, and with lesser powers than a state commission, in order to hinder its ability to reach the truth and enforce accountability.<\/p>\n

Members of the anti-Netanyahu bloc in the Knesset slammed the government decision on Sunday, with Opposition Leader Yair Lapid declaring that it was \u201cdoing everything it can to escape the truth and evade responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a 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,\u201d he said, insisting that the government\u2019s \u201crefusal to investigate its failures endangers national security, constitutes an insult, and is an evasion of responsibility toward the soldiers and families who have sacrificed so much since October 7.\u201d<\/p>\n

Promising to establish a state commission of inquiry after the next elections, The Democrats party chairman Yair Golan insisted that \u201che who is being investigated does not appoint his own investigators,\u201d while Gadi Eisenkot, chairman of the \u201cYashar! With Eisenkot\u201d party, derided the proposed panel as a \u201cwhitewashing\u201d committee established by \u201cthe only ones refusing to take responsibility for the worst disaster in Israel\u2019s history.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tOpposition Leader MK Yair Lapid leads a Yesh Atid faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on November 10, 2025 (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

\u201cWho do you think you\u2019re fooling?\u201d asked Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz. \u201cIn what twisted and disconnected world do you imagine that the people under investigation themselves would decide the mandate of the investigation and the identity of the investigators?\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement, the Movement for Quality Government, one of the primary petitioners calling on the High Court to make the government establish a state commission of inquiry, called Sunday\u2019s decision \u201ca transparent attempt to evade a real and independent investigation of the greatest failure in the country\u2019s history.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe returned hostages, the fallen and the entire public deserve a real, independent and impartial investigation, not a committee whose mandate and composition are dictated and controlled by the government,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"
\n\t\tIsraeli anti-government protesters lift placards and flags during a demonstration against government in Tel Aviv on November 15, 2025. (Jack GUEZ \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

The October Council \u2014 a group that says it represents around 2,000 bereaved families, including relatives of hostages, residents of border communities, and survivors of Hamas\u2019s onslaught of October 7, 2023 \u2014 joined in the condemnations, slamming the government for moving to \u201cabsolve themselves of punishment\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter trying every cheap trick in the book\u2026 the prime minister is now trying to establish facts on the ground,\u201d the October Council said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Referring to the government\u2019s proposed inquiry as a \u201ccover-up commission,\u201d the group said that \u201cagain, the defendants are trying to appoint their own investigators, determine what the inquiry will focus on, and absolve themselves of punishment,\u201d vowing that it won\u2019t allow that to happen.<\/p>\n

The October Council also urged the public to step up its weekly Saturday evening protests demanding a state inquiry, after some 2,000 people took part in such a rally Saturday night in Tel Aviv.<\/p>\n

Lazar Berman and Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The government on Sunday reportedly decided to establish its own probe into the failures surrounding Hamas\u2019s October 7,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-137042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}