The government formally notified the Supreme Court, that it had not completed legislation to establish a commission of inquiry into the failures surrounding the October 7 massacre, and asked the court “not to intervene” in the matter.
In the government’s filing Wednesday to the High Court, it wrote that “unfortunately, due to the constraints of the Knesset’s schedule, the Knesset was unable to complete the legislative process for the bill in its second and third readings before it went into the election recess.”
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Supreme Court has not yet issued a ruling because the government said it was advancing a law for a special commission of inquiry
(Photo: Alexander Kolomoisky)
The government’s notice concerns a petition demanding that the High Court order the government to establish a state commission of inquiry. The High Court has so far refrained from issuing a ruling because the government said it was advancing a new law for a special commission of inquiry into the massacre.
The government’s notice to the High Court also stated that “the manner of investigating the events that are the subject of these petitions lies at the heart of a political dispute between the parties running in the elections. Under these circumstances, it is not appropriate for this honorable court to be required to decide this issue or intervene in it at this stage. In this context, it has been held that precisely at this time, on the eve of elections, it is proper for the court as well to act with restraint and caution. This is a politically sensitive period, and the court must carefully examine the possible implications of its ruling on public sentiment.”
Bereaved families at the Supreme Court before one of the hearings
(Photo: Alexander Kolomoisky)
In the government’s response to the High Court at the beginning of the year, the possibility that the court would order the establishment of a state inquiry into the massacre was described as “an unprecedented extreme act.” It also stated that “there is no legal basis for making the conditional order absolute, and this honorable court must dismiss the petitions outright.”
According to the government, “the establishment of the state-national commission of inquiry and the determination of its composition will be carried out by broad agreement, or alternatively in an equitable manner between coalition and opposition members. The state-national commission of inquiry that will be established will include experts from the fields of security, academia and law, bereaved parents will serve as observers, and the powers of the state-national commission of inquiry will be full in accordance with the Commissions of Inquiry Law, all in a manner that will ensure broad public trust from across the political spectrum.”
The government asked the court not to intervene because it is a political issue
(Photo: Maayan Toaf/GPO)
'Unprecedented contempt for the court'
The October Council, which petitioned for the establishment of a state commission of inquiry, responded angrily to the government’s notice to the High Court. “The Israeli government exposed the truth today: For months, it asked the court for time, when its only goal was to deceive everyone and never investigate. While bereaved families, the hostages and victims of the massacre waited for the truth, the government planned to blind them and the entire country in the belief that time would make people forget the greatest disaster in the history of the state,” the council said in a statement.
"This is unprecedented contempt for the court, the rule of law and the Israeli public. We expect the court to respond with the full severity of the law and personally accuse Prime Minister Netanyahu and his representatives of contempt of court. The investigation, the truth and the repair will come. No one will manage to escape them. We will make sure of that.”