The Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee held a second discussion Wednesday on a coalition-backed bill to establish a politically appointed, parity-based commission of inquiry into the Oct. 7 attack.
Opposition lawmakers did not attend the session, and families from the October Council — a group representing bereaved families of victims of the Oct. 7 attack — continued their boycott of the committee’s deliberations. Present at the hearing were representatives of the “Law and Justice” forum, which supports the bill, and members of the “Shober Shivyon” initiative — a group of Likud members and left-leaning academics proposing a compromise framework.
The committee’s legal advisers issued a position paper criticizing key aspects of the proposal. Regarding the appointment of commission members, the legal review said the bill raises difficulties in achieving true parity between coalition and opposition blocs. It cited comparisons made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the U.S. 9/11 Commission, which he has described as a model.
The legal advisers argued that the comparison is problematic because the United States operates under a two-party system, while in Israel the opposition is composed of multiple parties, raising concerns that the proposed commission would not reflect genuine bloc parity or balance.
The review also addressed a provision allowing the Knesset speaker to appoint opposition representatives if the opposition declines to participate. Legal advisers said such a mechanism would undermine the stated goal of ensuring balance between the sides.
Additional criticism focused on the size and structure of the proposed commission. The legal review warned that an equal number of coalition and opposition members without a requirement for a majority could make it difficult to reach agreed conclusions. It cautioned that the panel could end up issuing separate reports from coalition and opposition members, or produce compromised findings similar to criticisms directed at the U.S. 9/11 Commission.
As the committee debated the bill, families from the October Council attended a separate session in the Knesset Education Committee concerning legislation on commemorating the Oct. 7 attack. The families said they are fighting to ensure that the narrative reflects not only acts of heroism but also what they describe as abandonment.
Bereaved relatives played final voice messages and recordings sent by their loved ones minutes before they were killed.
Yoram Yehudai, father of Ron Yehudai, who was killed at the Nova music festival, played what he said were his son’s last recordings from a shelter at the site. “At 7 a.m., Ron understood what the prime minister, the head of the Shin Bet and the chief of staff did not understand,” he said. “He wrote to me, ‘Dad, we are at war.’ Any initiative for commemoration led by Netanyahu is irrelevant. Whoever abandoned my child cannot define how the commemoration will look or how the state commission of inquiry will be formed. We will not allow you to control the narrative.”
Hila Avir, sister of Lotan Avir, who was killed in a roadside shelter, also played her brother’s final recordings. “Only three weeks ago we received the military investigation and were told what happened there,” she said. “The last memory I have of my brother is a recording of terrorists shooting him. We remember Oct. 7 as long as we live, but what legacy are you leaving for future generations? You erased the word ‘massacre’ and replaced it with ‘Memorial Day for the Simchat Torah events.’ Where is the death of our brothers and children? You are erasing it.”
Shay Calderon, a relative of Noya Dan, played what she described as Dan’s final message to her mother before she was killed. “First a state commission of inquiry, only afterward commemoration,” she said.
Anat Ben Ami, whose daughter Shani Ben Ami was killed at the Nova festival, said she still does not know the full circumstances of her daughter’s death. “My daughter went to dance and was murdered. To this day I don’t know what happened to her,” she said.
Lee Siegel, brother of released hostage Keith Siegel, said he was speaking on behalf of residents of Kibbutz Kfar Aza. “Whoever forgets history has no right to live in the future,” he said.