Israeli politics is quickly reorganizing around a new fault line: who gets to investigate the failures that led to Oct. 7. With the Gaza war paused and most hostages now back, the debate has shifted from battlefield decisions to accountability at home. Opposition parties, backed by many families of those killed or kidnapped, are demanding a traditional state commission of inquiry—an independent body historically led by a Supreme Court justice with powers to subpoena and compel testimony, the Wall Street Journal reports. Polls suggest a clear majority of Israelis want that kind of probe into how Hamas was able to launch the deadliest attack in the country's history.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who long argued that wartime was the wrong moment for such scrutiny, has now endorsed an investigation—but on his terms. Instead of a court-appointed commission, he wants a parliamentary committee whose members are chosen by lawmakers and whose mandate would be set by a committee he oversees. Coalition allies say that remit should reach far beyond the immediate security lapses of Oct. 7 to include the 1993 Oslo Accords and last year's mass protests against his judicial overhaul, which they claim weakened Israel and emboldened its enemies. Netanyahu says this structure would be more representative and promises "all the subjects will be investigated—political, security, intelligence, legal."
The proposal was advanced in a Knesset vote on Wednesday by a narrow margin, amid shouted objections from bereaved families in the gallery and paper copies of the bill being ripped up by opposition lawmakers on the floor. "This is a day of disaster for us all," said Eyal Eshel, who lost his daughter during Hamas' attack on the army base where she was stationed, per Reuters. Survivors and relatives of the attack have launched a campaign against the proposed probe, saying only a state commission can bring those accountable to justice.
The fight over the format of the inquiry is becoming a centerpiece of the campaign against Netanyahu as Israel heads toward elections due by late October, per the Journal. Figures across the political spectrum, including former prime minister Naftali Bennett, are promising to set up an independent commission if they come to power. "We need answers to how did all of this happen and how do we prevent such a disaster from ever happening again," said Jon Polin, whose son Hersh Goldberg-Polin was held hostage for nearly a year before being killed.
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