{"id":184558,"date":"2025-12-14T18:09:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T18:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/184558\/"},"modified":"2025-12-14T18:09:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T18:09:10","slug":"likud-mk-lays-out-proposed-oct-7-probe-in-place-of-state-inquiry-opposition-rejects-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/184558\/","title":{"rendered":"Likud MK lays out proposed Oct. 7 probe in place of state inquiry; opposition rejects it"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Likud lawmaker Ariel Kallner, in a press conference in the Knesset on Sunday, presented the main principles of his outline for a proposed \u201cnational state investigation committee\u201d into the failures surrounding Hamas\u2019s onslaught on October 7, 2023, in place of an independent state commission of inquiry, which the government opposes, but which polls consistently show is backed by most of the public.<\/p>\n<p>Opposition leaders dismissed it as an effort by the coalition to cover up its failures by appointing its own investigators and setting their mandate.<\/p>\n<p>The plan, an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/likud-mk-presents-plan-for-alternate-october-7-commission-of-inquiry\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">earlier version<\/a> of which was floated by Kallner earlier this year, calls for a majority of 80 out of 120 MKs to appoint a six-member committee and its chairman. If there were no agreement after two weeks, both the opposition and coalition would be allowed to select three committee members each, who would be joined by four supervisory members representing bereaved families.<\/p>\n<p>The proposal states that if either the coalition or opposition does not cooperate in the process or cannot settle on a candidate, the Knesset speaker will choose instead, giving the coalition effective control, in the event of an expected opposition boycott.<\/p>\n<p>Any two members of the committee would be empowered to summon any person or investigate any entity, and all discussions would be broadcast live.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tGet The Times of Israel&#8217;s Daily Edition<br \/>\n\t\t\tby email and never miss our top stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/terms\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">terms<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In a booklet explaining his proposal, Kallner wrote that the proposal is intended to provide the probe with broad public approval, arguing that a state commission of inquiry, whose members would be chosen by Supreme Court President Isaac Amit, would not enjoy public support.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInstead of appointing a committee by one controversial individual, who heads a judicial system that is at an unprecedented low in terms of public trust, the establishment of a committee would be done in an equitable manner by those elected by the people. This would give the committee and its conclusions the broad public trust it needs,\u201d he argued.<\/p>\n<p>\t<a href=\"https:\/\/static-cdn.toi-media.com\/www\/uploads\/2025\/12\/F251208CG401.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3707531\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/F251208CG401-640x400.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"375\"\/><\/a><br \/>\n\t\tPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at a 40-signatures debate, at the plenum hall of the Knesset, December 8, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg\/Flash90)<\/p>\n<p>The proposed bill is reportedly backed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu \u2014 who has argued strongly against a state commission of inquiry \u2014 and was formulated with the input of Justice Minister Yariv Levin. The bill has not yet been approved by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, but will reportedly be on its agenda in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Netanyahu and his supporters have long <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/sidestepping-state-october-7-probe-netanyahu-may-see-chance-to-outflank-opposition\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">rejected<\/a> a state commission of inquiry, the country\u2019s highest investigative authority, because its make-up would be determined by the judiciary, which his government does not trust and seeks to weaken through a judicial overhaul. However, as recently as three years ago, Netanyahu backed a state commission of inquiry into the conduct of the previous government.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018A cover-up committee\u2019<\/p>\n<p>The opposition will not play ball with any attempt to sidestep the establishment of a state commission of inquiry, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid declared following Kallner\u2019s press conference, declaring that \u201cthe opposition will not cooperate with the coalition\u2019s proposal to establish a cover-up committee for October 7.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kallner\u2019s bill also drew condemnations from Avidgor Liberman\u2019s hawkish Yisrael Beytenu party, which said it would \u201cnot allow the October 7 prime minister to establish a whitewashing committee,\u201d and claimed that Liberman has \u201cconclusive evidence that Netanyahu was warned about the attack\u201d that he will only present to a state commission of inquiry.<\/p>\n<p>\t<a href=\"https:\/\/static-cdn.toi-media.com\/www\/uploads\/2025\/12\/F251126YS55.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3704002\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/F251126YS55-640x400.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"375\"\/><\/a><br \/>\n\t\tMK Yair Lapid attends a plenum session at the assembly hall of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, November 26, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n<p>The Democrats MK Gilad Kariv argued that Kallner\u2019s proposal was a \u201cspit in the face\u201d of the bereaved families and would be a \u201cpolitical circus,\u201d while former prime minister Naftali Bennett described it as \u201ca knife in the back of the bereaved families and the entire people of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bennett argued that the bill boils down to one thing \u2014 \u201cthose being investigated appoint the investigators\u201d \u2014 promising that \u201cthe leadership will not escape its responsibility for over a decade of lost deterrence, the transfer of cash suitcases to Hamas, and the building of terror monsters on our borders.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said things will be different after elections, assuming he wins: \u201cIn the first meeting of our government, we will cancel this political committee and establish a state investigative committee according to the law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Multiple routes to bypass a state commission<\/p>\n<p>Kallner\u2019s proposal is not the only one being advanced by the coalition. Last month, the government <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/government-moves-to-appoint-own-probe-into-oct-7-nixing-state-commission-of-inquiry\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">voted<\/a> to establish its own probe into the failures surrounding the Hamas invasion and massacre.<\/p>\n<p>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 the government decision noted.<\/p>\n<p>\t<a href=\"https:\/\/static-cdn.toi-media.com\/www\/uploads\/2025\/12\/F250707YS65.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3709685\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/F250707YS65-640x400.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"375\"\/><\/a><br \/>\n\t\tMinister of Heritage Amichai Eliyahu speaks during a meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on July 7, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n<p>Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, a member of the ministerial panel appointed to determine the mandate of the government\u2019s controversial commission of inquiry, has said that the panel <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/minister-says-oct-7-inquiry-will-probe-judicial-system-those-who-weakened-deterrence\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">will probe \u201cthe judicial system\u201d<\/a> and others who \u201cweakened our deterrence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Addressing lawmakers in the Knesset last week, Netanyahu <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/netanyahu-backs-historic-haredi-draft-bill-in-fiery-knesset-debate-on-wartime-conduct\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">asserted<\/a> that \u201cthe establishment of the commission and its makeup will be done equally between the coalition and the opposition\u201d and that \u201conly someone who does not want to reveal the truth\u201d would oppose it.<\/p>\n<p>Critics have noted that both the coalition and the opposition include many officials who held top political and security positions in the years leading up to October 7, and who would therefore themselves be targets of the inquiry.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tYou appreciate our journalism\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"400\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/DH-new-headshot-circular.png\" class=\"attachment-square_large size-square_large wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"crm-article-popup__counter-wrap\" style=\"display:none\">&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWe\u2019re really pleased that you\u2019ve read  X Times of Israel articles in the past month.&#13;\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>You clearly find our careful reporting valuable, in a time when facts are often distorted and news coverage often lacks context.<\/p>\n<p>Your support is essential to continue our work. 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Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Likud lawmaker Ariel Kallner, in a press conference in the Knesset on Sunday, presented the main principles of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184559,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-184558","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184558","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=184558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}