The Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, 2023, is widely regarded as the worst military, intelligence and policy failure in Israel’s history. But for many Israelis, the question of who was responsible for those failings is far from settled.
The assault took the Israeli government, military and security services by surprise, and Israel has not yet conducted an official, comprehensive inquiry to apportion responsibility for that breakdown in national security. Thousands of gunmen crossed the border from Gaza on that day and attacked Israeli towns and villages, army bases and a music festival, killing about 1,200 people, according to the Israeli authorities. About 250 people were taken as captives to Gaza.
Now, after two years of war in Gaza, and with a fragile cease-fire in place, the Israeli government is advancing legislation to hold an inquiry into the events of Oct. 7.
Under a proposal by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the members of the investigating commission would be chosen in a way that departs from existing Israeli law.
In a speech in Parliament on Monday, Mr. Netanyahu said that his proposal had a “broad consensus” among the public and was “the only way the truth will come to light,” but he acknowledged that the parliamentary opposition vehemently opposed the plan.
As the government enters an election year, its proposal for how it should be held to account has become another point of contention in a deeply divided country.
What is the Israeli government proposing?
The Israeli Knesset, or Parliament, narrowly approved a preliminary reading of a bill on Dec. 24 to form what the government called a “state-national commission of inquiry” into the October 2023 attack.
The proposal calls for an investigating commission of about six members. Half would be selected by Mr. Netanyahu’s governing coalition, and half by the parliamentary opposition.
According to existing Israeli law, an independent state commission of inquiry should be composed of members chosen by the president of the Supreme Court, not by lawmakers. The right-wing Netanyahu government has rejected the idea of a commission appointed by the Supreme Court president, Chief Justice Yitzhak Amit, contending that the public has no faith in him. It has instead called for a “special” commission, appointed by politicians.
The government has been battling and boycotting Justice Amit as part of its wider, divisive plans for a judicial overhaul that would curb the authorities of the court.
“An unprecedented event like Oct. 7 requires a special commission of inquiry, a broad national commission that will be acceptable to the majority of the nation,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a statement ahead of the Knesset vote. “This will be an egalitarian commission. No side will have any advantage in appointing the members of the commission,” he added.
Mr. Netanyahu insists that the commission he is proposing will be independent and have the same powers as previous commissions of inquiry. It will require several more votes in Parliament before it becomes law.
Critics say he is trying to play for time and evade responsibility for the failures on his watch.
Opposition parties have vowed not to participate in the process.
“The whole purpose of this bill is to help the prime minister duck responsibility,” Yair Lapid, the centrist leader of the opposition, said on the day of the vote, adding, “The opposition will not cooperate with this shameful farce.”
What does the public want?
Numerous polls have shown that a majority of Israelis favor a state commission of inquiry held according to existing law, viewing that as the most credible mechanism for investigating the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.
State commissions of inquiry have broad powers, including the ability to call witnesses and compel them to testify. In the past, they have apportioned blame and made recommendations against individuals.
The conclusions of the Agranat Commission, which examined the failures that led to the surprise attack by Egypt and Syria during the first days of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, forced resignations in the army’s senior ranks and a restructuring of the military. Later, the wartime prime minister, Golda Meir, also resigned.
The Kahan Commission in the 1980s apportioned indirect responsibility to Israel’s leaders for a massacre by Lebanese Phalangist forces of Palestinian civilians at the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps in Lebanon. The panel determined that though the Israeli military held the area, no steps were taken to prevent the bloodshed. The commission recommended that Ariel Sharon, the defense minister at the time, be removed from his post, and he eventually resigned.
Has Netanyahu taken any responsibility for Oct. 7?
While Mr. Netanyahu has been in office for most of the years since 2009 and has largely shaped Israel’s security doctrine, he has so far not accepted any personal responsibility for the failures of Oct 7. He said he would answer the tough questions only after the war. An open-ended, if tenuous, cease-fire took hold about three months ago.
The Israeli military has carried out internal inquiries into its failures leading up to and during the October 2023 assault, finding that its senior officers vastly underestimated Hamas and then misinterpreted early warnings that a major attack was coming. Several military and security leaders have resigned or been removed from their posts.
What do the victims’ families say?
Among the most vociferous critics of the government’s refusal to establish a traditional state commission of inquiry are survivors of the October 2023 attack, those who were held in captivity in Gaza, and relatives of those killed in the assault.
More than 200 of the families recently signed an open letter calling for an independent state commission of inquiry. “Without a true investigation, we cannot guarantee the disaster of Oct. 7 will never happen again,” they wrote.
Mr. Netanyahu says that his special commission of inquiry will include bereaved parents as “observers.”
Isabel Kershner, a senior correspondent for The Times in Jerusalem, has been reporting on Israeli and Palestinian affairs since 1990.
The post Why Israel Is Divided Over How to Investigate Oct. 7 Failures appeared first on New York Times.
