Netanyahu told the Knesset that ‘no state commission will probe the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks’, sparking outrage from opposition leaders and bereaved families who vowed to keep fighting for an inquiry
Ynet News
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Knesset on Monday that no state commission of inquiry will be established to investigate the failures surrounding Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks, drawing sharp condemnation from opposition lawmakers and bereaved families who called the move a ‘red line.’
The announcement came during a ’40 signatures’ debate initiated by opposition factions demanding the formation of a state inquiry into the government and security establishment’s conduct before and during the attack that saw some 250 others taken hostage to Gaza.
Netanyahu, opening his speech to the plenum, said, ‘There are days, like today, when I look back at the mission that has guided me throughout my public life — to fight those who seek to destroy us and to ensure our existence in our land.’ He linked his remarks to the 50th anniversary of a 1975 United Nations resolution declaring that ‘Zionism is a form of racism,’ saying the attack on Zionism was ‘an attack on our state, which embodies the realization of Zionism.’
Discussing the ongoing war, Netanyahu said, ‘The current war, the war of rebirth, is a just war against those who rose against us on seven fronts. On Oct. 7 we suffered a terrible blow — but one from which we immediately rose.’
He said Israel had resisted international pressure, including advice not to enter Gaza City, and credited ‘military pressure in Gaza and diplomatic pressure by the United States’ with helping to secure the return of hostages. ‘The campaign is not over,’ Netanyahu said. ‘Hamas will be disarmed, and Gaza will be demilitarized — either the easy way or the hard way.’
In a veiled criticism of the IDF, Netanyahu referred to the arrest of outgoing Military Advocate General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, suspected of leaking a video showing reservists allegedly abusing a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman base. He said the incident ’caused immeasurable damage’ to Israel and the military, and accused those involved of ‘distorting the truth and supplying propaganda ammunition to our worst enemies.’
Turning back to the inquiry issue, Netanyahu said the key question was ‘not only who is being investigated, but who investigates the truth.’ He argued that an inquiry supported only by half the public would lack legitimacy. ‘We want to establish a commission that will have the broadest possible public support,’ he said. ‘Not one that half the nation rejects or believes is rigged in advance.’
Members of the coalition applauded, while families of the ‘October Council’ — a group representing bereaved families of Oct. 7 victims — turned their backs to him in protest.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid of Yesh Atid accused Netanyahu of evading responsibility and compared the Likud-led government to the old Mapai party, which dominated Israeli politics in the state’s early years. ‘Each scandal replaces the last — all to make us forget Oct. 7,’ Lapid said.
Israel Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman said Netanyahu was ‘personally responsible for the Oct. 7 massacre,’ citing his decision to allow Qatari funds to flow to Hamas and his ‘policy of containment.’ He vowed that a future government would establish ‘a true state commission of inquiry that will investigate everyone and issue personal recommendations.’