A New Low for Netanyahu: He Tells Israelis the Failures of Oct. 7 Will Never Be Investigated
The Israeli prime minister's fear of what a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 massacre could find out means he will never allow one to be formed, despite overwhelming public demand for an investigation
Dec 10, 2024
The massive failures of October 7, 2023 – the day on which Israel's lines of defense collapsed, the country's borders were breached, approximately 1,200 Israelis were killed and some 240 people kidnapped – will never be properly investigated. That's the most important headline to emerge from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's press conference on Monday night.
Most of the 45-minute event was a narcissistic performance in which Netanyahu glorified himself and attacked Israel's courts, police and state prosecution for daring to put him on trial and investigate the alleged crimes of his top aides.
There was one noteworthy moment in which Netanyahu forgot the number of Israeli hostages being held in Gaza – a number seared into the hearts and minds of millions of Israelis, but apparently unknown to the man in charge of returning them to their families. But at least this time, unlike in previous press appearances, he didn't mix up the date of October 7.
Netanyahu convened the press conference in order to viciously go after the judicial system, ahead of the first day of his testimony and questioning in his corruption trial. But nothing he said about the subject was new, or newsworthy. It was the same set of lies, spin and political talking points we've been hearing from him and his supporters for years.
Instead, the biggest piece of news arrived toward the end of the press conference when a reporter asked him when he will finally create a state commission of inquiry into the failures of October 7.
In Israel, a commission of inquiry is the most powerful entity that can be set up to investigate failures and disasters that involve agencies of the state. Sixteen such commissions have been established so far, all of them basing their mandate and methods on the State Commissions of Inquiry Law from 1968. This law gives the government the authority to set up a commission of inquiry whenever it identifies "an issue that is of vital public importance and requires an investigation."
Once the government decides to create such a commission, it is the president of the Israeli Supreme Court who appoints its members. This construct was intentionally devised in order to avoid a situation where a government appoints the commission members who will investigate its own failures, thereby ensuring "softer" conclusions regarding the conduct of those in power.
The court president chooses a panel of three or five members – always an odd number, to avoid the possibility of deadlock in the panel's conclusions – led by a former Supreme Court justice. The commission members must be experts in the field they are being asked to investigate and must have an impartial approach, free of partisan or personal considerations.
The most famous was the Agranat Commission, led by retired Justice Aharon Agranat, which was established in November 1973 to investigate the failings of that year's Yom Kippur War. It led, five months later, to the resignation of then-Prime Minister Golda Meir.
In November 1995, just days after the assassination of then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, a commission led by retired Justice Meir Shamgar was formed to investigate the failures that allowed the political murder to take place. One of the most important roles of that commission was to check, one by one, the different conspiracy theories related to Rabin's murder, and then refute them with evidence and concise language.
Netanyahu has been Israel's longest-serving prime minister, but in his 16 accumulated years in power, his governments have never established any commissions of inquiry. This despite the fact that two of the largest disasters in Israeli history – the Carmel forest fire in December 2010 and Mount Meron disaster in April 2021 – happened under his watch. For the latter, a state commission was eventually established – but only after Naftali Bennett replaced Netanyahu and pushed for its creation. The commission published its findings earlier this year; it blamed Netanyahu and other officials for the deaths of 45 civilians in a tragedy that could have easily been avoided.
All of these examples – the Mount Meron disaster, Rabin's assassination and even the 1973 war – pale in comparison to October 7, the worst day in Israel's history. This was a day in which more civilians and soldiers were killed than on any other since the state's foundation. A day that continues to linger 14 months on as 100 hostages are still being held by terrorists in Gaza, suffering torture, starvation and rape. A day in which entire Israeli communities were destroyed, and Israelis' trust in their government and military was shattered.
Hundreds of families who lost their loved ones that day have for months been demanding that a commission of inquiry be established so they can finally receive answers and explanations. How did this happen? What made it possible? Could it have been avoided? What lessons should be learned for the future?
All of these questions are critical not just for the families seeking justice, but for every Israeli citizen. If the lessons of the past aren't learned and conclusions aren't drawn, the massive failures could repeat themselves – if not in Gaza, then along one of Israel's other borders.
But Netanyahu has so far refused to set up any such commission. Until Monday night, his lame excuse was that the war is still ongoing, and therefore it's not yet time to start investigating the failures.
This would have been a half-viable explanation if Netanyahu's government weren't at the same time behaving as if the war is long over: promoting divisive legislationagainst Israel's judicial system; refusing to pass a responsible wartime state budget, choosing instead to increase spending on unnecessary government ministries that cost billions of shekels; and working tirelessly to exempt thousands of young ultra-Orthodox men from military service, as if Israel is at peace and no longer needs a large army.
On Monday, the cat was finally let out of the bag: "Now isn't the time" was always an excuse, not a reason, for Netanyahu to ignore the bereaved families' demands for a commission of inquiry. The real reason was, and remains, his fear of what a panel will find – and what its conclusions will say about him personally. He mumbled that a state commission "won't enjoy the support of the entire public," ignoring public opinion polls showing that more than 80 percent of Israelis support the creation of such a commission of inquiry.
Instead, his ruling coalition is now trying to promote a bill that will give politicians – and not the Supreme Court – the ability to appoint the members of any future commission of inquiry. In other words, those who have to be investigated will choose their own investigators.
Even by Netanyahu's own corrupt standards, this is a new low. The chances of this legislation passing aren't high, but that's not the point. It is being promoted under an assumption that it will fail and, when it does, he will tell the public: "Well, I tried, but we couldn't find an agreed-upon mechanism for this investigation."
The result will be that the failures of October 7 will never be investigated, the lessons never learned, the necessary changes never implemented. This is a threat to Israel's national security – but as always with Netanyahu, his own interests come first and the national interest comes last.