{"id":197183,"date":"2025-12-21T23:38:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T23:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/197183\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T23:38:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T23:38:10","slug":"ag-slams-governments-political-oct-7-inquiry-tailor-made-for-coalitions-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/197183\/","title":{"rendered":"AG slams government’s ‘political’ Oct 7 inquiry: ‘Tailor-made for coalition’s needs’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara on Sunday excoriated government-backed legislation to create a politically appointed commission of inquiry<\/a> into the failings surrounding the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion and atrocities, describing it as being \u201ctailor-made\u201d for the \u201cpersonal\u201d needs of the current government and coalition.<\/p>\n

In an opinion published by her office, Baharav-Miara said the commission of inquiry envisioned in a private member\u2019s bill submitted by Likud MK Ariel Kallner would \u201cpoliticize\u201d the inquiry; \u201ctrample\u201d on professional considerations for getting at the truth; give commission members powers not befitting them; and harm the ability of any future, non-politicized, independent commission to properly investigate the October 7 failings.<\/p>\n

As such, the severe deficiencies of the bill mean the government should not support it, the attorney general said.<\/p>\n

Kallner\u2019s bill, which is due to be approved by the cabinet on Monday for support in the Knesset, would create a \u201cnational state investigation committee\u201d whose members would be chosen by politicians, with almost no criteria for determining the qualifications of members.<\/p>\n

The opposition has vowed to boycott such a panel, insisting instead on a state commission of inquiry. The members of a state commission of inquiry, as defined under current law, are appointed by the Supreme Court president and it is led by a retired justice of the court.<\/p>\n

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that the public would not trust a state commission because its make-up would be determined by the judiciary, which his government has sought to weaken through a series of controversial laws. As recently as 2022, Netanyahu had backed a state commission of inquiry into the conduct of the previous government.<\/p>\n

Despite Netanyahu\u2019s claims, opinion polls consistently show that a\u00a0state commission of inquiry is backed by most of the public.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore us is a \u2018personal bill,\u2019 that is \u2018tailored to the measurements\u2019 of the current government and coalition,\u201d Baharav-Miara charged on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not the result of professional staff work, but rather of political discourse led by the prime minister and in cooperation with coalition factions,\u201d she continued in her broadside against the proposal.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tLikud MK Ariel Kallner speaks during a press conference on the establishment of a government commission of inquiry into October 7, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, December 14, 2025 (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe proposal politicizes the commission, creates a commission for which there is a real concern that political considerations will override the professional considerations essential to investigating the truth, whose investigative powers are not appropriate for such a panel in the absence of a senior judge at its head, and whose mechanism is cumbersome and will thwart the ability to investigate the truth and draw objective conclusions,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Baharav-Miara said that if any changes are to be made to commissions of inquiry, then the extreme nature of the October 7 invasion and atrocities require finding ways \u201cto reduce the dependence of a state commission on the government\u201d in order to boost public trust, \u201cand certainly do not justify creating a mechanism that will increase dependence on the government and a panel that is [formed as] a result of political considerations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bill, she continued, is designed to \u201cserve the personal, political interests of the government and its members, while abusing the [legislative] pathway of a private member\u2019s bill\u201d to avoid scrutiny by the Attorney General\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

Government legislation requires approval from the attorney general, whereas private members\u2019 bills do not.<\/p>\n

Baharav-Miara also said that a so-called ministerial committee for deciding the mandate and scope of the proposed \u201cstate-national\u201d commission, which is set to begin deliberations on Monday and be led by Netanyahu, is not operating under any real legal authority, since such committees only operate in conjunction with a state commission of inquiry established under current law.<\/p>\n

\u201cTherefore, there is no place for the government to support the bill, and instead it should act in accordance with existing law and establish a state commission of inquiry,\u201d she concluded.<\/p>\n

The plan calls for a majority of 80 out of 120 MKs to appoint a six-member committee and its chairman. If there is no agreement after two weeks, both the opposition and coalition will each be allowed to select three committee members, will would be joined by four supervisory members representing bereaved families.<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 giving the coalition effective control in the event of an expected opposition boycott.<\/p>\n

Any two members of the committee would be empowered to subpoena any person or investigate any entity, and all discussions would be broadcast live.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the plenum hall of the Knesset, December 8, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

\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 Kallner has argued.<\/p>\n

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi dismissed Bahara-Miara\u2019s criticism on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe won\u2019t allow the ousted attorney general and her circle to evade a commission of inquiry,\u201d Karhi wrote on X, implying that the justice system will be a target of the nascent probe. The government has tried to fire Baharav-Miara but the High Court ruled that the dismissal process was not legal, and she has remained in her role.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe wording of the mandate frightens them, and a commission that is not under their control drives them mad,\u201d the Likud minister added.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tCommunications Minister Shlomo Karhi at the special panel on a contentious communications bill at the Knesset, December 8, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

Karhi suggested that there will only be \u201cjustice\u201d through the coalition\u2019s own inquiry, despite Baharav-Miara\u2019s \u201cobjections and fury.\u201d<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s planned commission, as well as the fact that Netanyahu is set to head the ministerial committee that will decide the investigation\u2019s mandate, has been met with outrage from the premier\u2019s political opponents, who have accused the premier of trying to \u201cwhitewash\u201d his responsibility for the failures leading up to and during the attack.<\/p>\n

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid has said the opposition will not cooperate with any attempt to sidestep the establishment of a state commission of inquiry and form \u201ca cover-up committee for October 7.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett has described it as \u201ca knife in the back of the bereaved families and the entire people of Israel.\u201d Bennett argued that the bill boils down to one thing: \u201cThose being investigated appoint the investigators.\u201d<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s plan was also assailed Sunday<\/a> by the October Council, made up of families who lost loved ones on October 7, as a \u201csmokescreen\u201d and a \u201cshameful political scam.\u201d The group vowed to stage a week of protests against the plan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara on Sunday excoriated government-backed legislation to create a politically appointed commission of inquiry into…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197184,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-197183","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\/197183","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=197183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}