A state commission of inquiry, armed with a proper mandate, would probably target four officeholders: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, former IDF Chief of Staff Herzl Halevi and Shin Bet security service head Ronen Bar. All four realize this, but only three are demanding that a panel be formed.
The outlier, Netanyahu, is waging a systematic campaign of delegitimization, filled with lies, manipulation and wild incitement against Supreme Court President Isaac Amit, who by law is supposed to name the commission's members.
Poll after poll shows that a great majority of Israelis – about 70 percent – support the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into the failures of October 7, 2023. By contrast, Netanyahu, who has avoided taking any responsibility, admitting to any failings or asking for forgiveness, does not enjoy the public's confidence. The "nation" (for which the prime minister speaks) values responsibility over evasion, integrity over deceit and courage over cowardice.
The Prime Minister's Office, the Likud party and their mouthpieces on social media, Channel 14 News and other electronic media outlets, are pouring resources into a dirty campaign against the forming of a commission and against Amit, so far without success.
The October Council – 1,500 families of Israelis who were killed or captured in the October 7 massacre – was formed to demand a state commission of inquiry. The violence that some of its members suffered in the Knesset this week on the orders of Amir Ohana, formally known to us as the speaker of the Knesset (who has not yet bothered to apologize for what he called an "unfortunate event") is further evidence of the panic gripping Netanyahu and his cronies.
This abject failure is taking its toll on the prime minister. Panic is an understatement to describe his appearance this week in the Knesset. Alongside his growls about the "deep state" and "a bureaucracy mobilized to collaborate with the media," he devoted time to the issue of the state commission of inquiry. His arguments were confused, contradictory and above all, pitiful. "The majority of the people," he said, "do not support a state commission."
From the opposition benches, lawmakers shouted about polls that show otherwise, for naught. The "people," Netanyahu explained, don't really understand the issues (in other words, the people are stupid), but when everything is explained to them, their opinion will change. He soon corrected himself: The nation is indeed smart and understands what's happening.
The methods of the Bibi-ist poison machine are well-known. The messaging comes from the top, gaining momentum from the bottom until it achieves critical mass. The one who initiates it and keeps it running – Netanyahu – then stands behind it publicly.
We have seen this over and over again. Likud's David Amsalem or Galit Distel Atbaryan are no longer needed. Bibi has joined the fight, and now he will lead the campaign against the commission.
Family members of Israelis killed or abducted on October 7 barred from the Knesset hall this week.Credit: Sraya Diamant
After his criminal disgrace was exposed in the commissions that probed the Mount Meron disaster and the submarine affair, the prime minister has no intention of reliving that experience (this time 1,000 times over, given the scale of the disaster).
What does he propose instead? A commission in the image of the Israel that he aspires to: political and unprofessional, divided, unbusinesslike, conflicted and unproductive. One that will be fought over forever and will never reach conclusions.
In the meantime, Netanyahu has shelved the proposal that MK Ariel Kallner was asked to submit – a commission would be appointed by the Knesset. No big deal; another useful idiot will be found for the next project. God knows Likud's Knesset caucus is full of them.
The prime minister's failing psychological stability has not been helped by the fact that more and more returning hostages and the families of those who remain captive realize they have no one to rely on but America. When Omer Shem Tov told President Donald Trump, "My family and I myself, we believe you've been sent by God to release us," and Naama Levy said "You were our hope when we were there, and now you are their hope," their words echo back at home in Israel. In Caesarea, they are enraged.
Together with his constant fear of the coalition collapsing if a deal with Hamas is completed, Netanyahu has another worry: Seeing the hostages return and waiting with his wife to be thanked. Instead, she is met with calls to bring home the rest.
Freed Israeli hostages meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday.Credit: White House
This anxiety was evident this week in the Knesset, when opposition lawmaker Chili Tropper read a letter that Yarden Bibas asked him to deliver. Netanyahu squirmed in his seat, his face turned gray and his eyes turned more evil than usual. He defiantly ignored Tropper when the MK finally handed him the letter. As far as the prime minister was concerned, Bibas, Eli Sharabi and everyone else were just opponents to add to the pile.
Faced with the sentiment that has emerged in the first stage of the cease-fire, Netanyahu is helpless. More than a year after the first hostage deal, those who remained in Gaza had become two-dimensional images for the majority of Israelis. Then, suddenly, they emerged as real people, flesh and blood, emaciated and mentally scarred, and they all joined together in the fight for those left behind.
So, what did Netanyahu do? As usual, he played the victim. "You're crushing the souls of the hostages' families!" Netanyahu shouted at the opposition benches. Interestingly, the families themselves do not claim this.
We got an example of the prime minister's cynicism this week when he published a video of him calling Sharabi just before the former hostage was to board Miriam Adelson's private plane to Washington.
Netanyahu knew he would be attacked for the crude timing and tried to preemptively remedy the situation: "I tried to talk to you about 10 days ago, and I'm glad it's happening now." What a malicious mind. What malign cynicism.
Netanyahu with freed hostages Keith and Aviva Siegel and their daughter Shir.Credit: Maayan Toaf/GPO
Let's assume there was indeed an attempt that failed. Why not call again the next day or two days later? Why wait until he knows about the Trump invite? How dare he treat this man so disrespectfully, who in turn did not speak at all about himself but about returning his captive brother.
Netanyahu deliberately limited his apology to Sharabi to the fact that "it took so long to get you out." He didn't apologize or ask for forgiveness for the day on the Gaza border, when Eli was kidnapped and his wife and daughters were murdered. He leaves that to the army and the Shin Bet security service. They are the ones who apologize, feel ashamed, flay themselves for their sins and investigate themselves in depth. Netanyahu's job is to scold them and incite against them.
The prime minister returned from his visit to Washington envious. Trump has upended the world order and shaken American and global institutions, some to the point of collapse. For years, the prime minister fantasized about doing just the same thing and has failed.
How many times has he demanded to "investigate the investigators"? And here comes Trump and fires them all. It's all so easy. In Israel, little Bibi can't get rid of his enemies, the guardians of good government who refuse to recognize him as king.
In briefings at the end of his visit, Netanyahu mentioned his talks with Trump about the "deep state" parallels between America and Israel. Since then, he has been crowing about it.
The dam has been breached. Step by step, under the cover of the war, the hostage negotiations and general madness, the government is advancing its goal of changing the face of the country. The global shock from Trump, the atmosphere of oppression and the general exhaustion in Israel are helping it.
Netanyahu and his lawyer, Amit Hadad, in court this week.Credit: Hadas Parush
The main focus of the protests right now is the hostages. Netanyahu is counting on this confusion. What will a huge protest be about? How the hostages have been abandoned? The judicial overhaul? The institutionalized evasion of army service by the ultra-Orthodox in contrast to the insane blood price paid by those who serve? The surfeit of issues is unimaginable.
And we still haven't talked about the billions of shekels for his coalition partners, which reached a new high/low this week: more and more money for Torah, some of it fictitious studying, including money for yeshiva students studying abroad. It's hard to believe how much money a government that has no God can spend on God.
Those who stand in the way must be removed. Three people are currently the only ones blocking the transformation of Israel from a democracy – under sustained attack by its own government – into a nationalist and messianic autocracy bordering on fascism. They are Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, Shin Bet head Ronen Bar and Supreme Court President Isaac Amit.
They have faced a demonization campaign led by the prime minister through various subcontractors, first and foremost Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who this week began the process of ousting the attorney general, who is also the chief prosecutor in the criminal case against Netanyahu.
The timing of Levin's move cannot be separated from the corruption trial. Netanyahu doesn't want to reach the cross-examination stage but to keep testifying in front of his attorney, Amit Hadad. Baharav-Miara is driving him crazy with her refusal to enter into negotiations over a plea bargain at the initiative of the state and not of the defense, and under deluxe conditions as he is accustomed to.
The timing cannot be separated from coalition politics either. The Knesset has until March 24 to approve the state budget; otherwise, the government will fall. Many ultra-Orthodox lawmakers are demanding a complete exemption from conscription before that.
The attorney general sent a sharply worded letter to Defense Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday demanding compliance with the law.
"Law" is something that the government has a hard time with in any number of areas. The commencement of the dismissal process right now is designed to show the ultra-Orthodox how serious Netanyahu is about addressing their needs and reassure them that the government's heart is in the right place: Soon, we'll force her out and replace her with a nonentity who will let us pass a draft-evasion law.
Just let us get through the Knesset's spring recess, say the prime minister's people to their ultra-Orthodox partners, and when lawmakers reconvene for the summer, after Independence Day, Baharav-Miara will no longer be around to bother us.
The recipients of this message know that this is a long process that will eventually be adjudicated by the Supreme Court – serving as the High Court of Justice – and that its chances of succeeding aren't great.
Levin knows this, but it's not relevant. First he has to help ensure passage of the state budget, which will keep the government alive until March 2026. Then, when the High Court strikes down the attorney general's dismissal, he can claim that the justices acted without authority because the court is led by a president "who was appointed unlawfully" during the controversy about the Judicial Appointments Committee. He can then go ahead and fire the attorney general.
This is the plan, and it will trigger a constitutional crisis and bring down the ruling order. The person largely responsible for the judicial revolution is determined to complete the work of destruction that he failed to accomplish in 2023.
Never in Israel's history has such a dangerous, if not psychotic, person held public office. Levin's letter Wednesday night to the cabinet secretary was riddled with insults, crude curses and ugly slurs against the attorney general. This is his style, this is the essence of the man.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin in the Knesset last month.Credit: Olivier Fitoussi
Like Netanyahu, he will be remembered as a curse upon Israel. What Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran failed to do with missiles and rockets, Levin, Netanyahu and their government are trying to do in their own fashion: Ignite a ring of fire that will consume the country's democratic institutions.
His base smells blood; its mouth is foaming with joy. Likud ministers compete to flatter Levin and taunt the attorney general.
Further to the right, Itamar Ben-Gvir has already signaled that it's time to talk about a comeback. Seemingly sane voices in the coalition, who understand the Levin-Netanyahu disaster, have fallen silent.
One who chose not to remain silent was Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar, who claims to represent a "statesmanlike right." He lined up behind Levin and announced Wednesday night that he supported the ousting of the attorney general whom he appointed. He was proud of that pick – until the moment he joined the government of failure.
"I learned from my mistakes," he said. With this, he completed the accelerated process of becoming a full-blown Bibi-ist. Sa'ar intends to continue to cooperate with Levin in their tainted plan to restructure the Judicial Appointments Committee.
The original version of the plan was brought to them in good faith by mediators Yizhar Shai and Dedi Simchi. Shai was naive to think that these two angels of destruction – the original and the converted – genuinely sought to heal the rift in the nation. The other day, Shai realized he had been led astray and announced that he was removing his name from the plan. When will Simchi sober up?
Bar, meanwhile, was told by the Prime Minister's Office that he must resign. It was hinted that if he didn't, he would be fired. The people threatening him include those the Shin Bet is investigating on suspicion of illicit ties with Qatar.
Qatar, by the way, had the unimaginable audacity to launch a verbal attack on the Shin Bet after the agency's investigative report was released. That probably says it all.
It will be very difficult to fire Bar while the investigation is underway. The Jerusalem mafia led by Netanyahu can't fire Amit either.
What can it do? Keep discrediting him and undermining his legitimacy while reviving its coup that will erode the independence of Amit, his colleagues in the judiciary and the entire law enforcement system.
Nothing will stop them. And if, to thicken the fog, they have to return to a war that will cost the lives of hostages and soldiers, so be it.