A committee of Israeli ministers has voted to advance a Bill establishing an investigation into the Hamas-led attack on October 7th, 2023, giving prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s government influence over the inquiry’s composition and mandate.
Under the proposal, the investigating committee will be appointed under the authority of Knesset parliament speaker Amir Ohana, a Netanyahu loyalist, with three members selected by the coalition and three by the opposition.
If the opposition refuses to participate, Mr Ohana will also appoint their representatives. All opposition parties have said they will not take part and have called for an independent state commission of inquiry to investigate all aspects of the greatest disaster in Israel’s history.
The October Council, made up of families whose loved ones were killed on October 7th and in the subsequent two-year war, protested outside the prime minister’s office during the vote.
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“We will not let them evade responsibility for what they did here on October 7th, and for the sacrifice of the hostages who should have returned alive. They are trying to evade responsibility. We will not let them evade responsibility. A state commission of inquiry will be established, and they will not succeed in evading it,” Gil Dickmann, whose cousin Carmel Gat was kidnapped on October 7th and subsequently murdered by her Gazan captors, told reporters.
Minister of justice Yariv Levin said the mechanism for establishing a commission should be replaced, citing what he described as a lack of public trust in the judiciary, which has appointed previous commissions of inquiry.
He said the attacks, in which 1,200 people were killed and 250 kidnapped and taken to Gaza, constituted “an extraordinary event, the likes of which we have never seen in Israel”, comparing the need for a special investigative body to the US response after the September 11th, 2001 attacks.
Jon Polin, the father of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was taken hostage and later killed in Gaza, rejected comparisons between the proposed committee and the US 9/11 commission. “Israel already has a clear legal framework for investigating national disasters,” he said. “We do not need new models. We need courage.”
Israel’s attorney general Gali Baharav-Miara also criticised the Bill, saying she believes the government’s proposal “prioritises political considerations over the principles of an independent, impartial and professional investigation” and is “riddled with fundamental flaws”.
A ministerial team led by Mr Netanyahu will convene to determine the commission’s mandate, including which issues and decisions surrounding October 7th will be investigated. The initiative will go before the Knesset for a preliminary reading on Wednesday.
Osher Shekalim, a member of the Knesset parliament from Mr Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party, argued that calls for a state commission were intended to remove Mr Netanyahu from power. Members of the coalition claim that any panel chosen by judges will turn into a witch hunt that will point the finger of blame at Mr Netanyahu.
The government also voted on Monday to close down the popular army radio station from March 1st, after 75 years of broadcasting.
The Israel press council described the move as “illegitimate and illegal” while the attorney general said the decision “raises concerns about political interference in public broadcasting and raises questions regarding the violation of freedom of expression and the press”.
Defence minister Israel Katz accused the station of airing “political and divisive content inconsistent with IDF values”.
Other right-wing parliamentarians accused the station of “harming the morale” of soldiers, including during the Gaza war. The accusations were denied by the station.
