The government decided on Monday against establishing a national commission of inquiry into the failings leading up to and on October 7 and instead voted to appoint a political panel after the Supreme Court ruled that the government must explain why it would not establish an independent commission.
According to public opinion polling, a vast majority of Israelis including the families of victims of the massacre, families of fallen soldiers and of hostages held in Gaza, demand a National Commission of Inquiry and oppose the efforts by the government to investigate its own failures and assign blame only on the security agencies, the IDF and others.
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Benjamin Netanyahu, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara
(Photo: Yoav Dudkevitz, Ronen Zvulin \ Reuters)
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International Court of Justice in the Hague hears accusations against Israel
(Photo:Yves Herman / Reuters)
"The commission will represent the different views of different sectors and will have public trust," the government decision claimed. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition has long accused the Supreme Court of bias and even directed blame at the court for the policies that led to the Hamas massacre and its devastating outcome.
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Ministers said Supreme Court Chief Justice Yitzhak Amit, whose appointment came over the government's opposition, does not have the trust of a large part of the Israeli population and that the same is true of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who Education Minister Yoav Kisch said would have stopped Netanyahu's criminal trial for corruption had she not been politically opposed to him.
According to Israeli law, the government has the authority to announce a national commission of inquiry and its members are selected by the chief justice.
"The government's decision not to establish a national commission of inquiry is harmful and damaging to the search for truth," the AG said in a letter. She has warned Netanyahu that only such a commission could be regarded as an independent inquiry in the eyes of the International Court of Justice, where Israel has been accused of genocide and other crimes against humanity.
Netanyahu told ministers that Israel is still facing considerable challenges and that the war is still being fought. His opponents said he refuses to allow an independent commission to investigate his role in the catastrophe.