Knesset passes controversial politically appointed Oct. 7 probe in 1st reading

The Knesset voted 59-0 on Monday to pass in the first of three readings highly controversial legislation establishing a politically appointed probe into the failures surrounding Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre, under which the same government that was in power when the attacks took place will have the authority to unilaterally appoint the body investigating its own conduct.

Opposition lawmakers boycotted the vote, which was assured of passage with the backing of the ultra-Orthodox parties. The opposition has boycotted the bill throughout the legislative process and has vowed not to cooperate with the proposed political commission.

Likud MKs Dan Illouz and Yuli Edelstein — the latter having recently announced his departure from the party — did not participate in the vote. Both have repeatedly defied the coalition on controversial legislation.

The legislation will now return to the Knesset Constitution Committee, where it will be prepared for its final votes, expected to be pushed through next week ahead of the Knesset’s scheduled pre-election dissolution on July 17.

The proposal, promoted by Likud MK Ariel Kallner, calls for a Knesset supermajority — 80 out of 120 MKs — to appoint a six-member investigative committee and its chairman. If there is no agreement after two weeks, both the opposition and coalition would be allowed to select three committee members each, who would be joined by four supervisory members representing bereaved families.

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However, the commission may begin operating as long as at least three members have been appointed, meaning that if the opposition continues to boycott the process, a commission composed solely of coalition appointees could still conduct the inquiry.

The opposition has demanded that an independent state commission of inquiry be established, led by the Supreme Court president, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has adamantly opposed forming one because its members would be selected by the judiciary, which he claims is biased against him. Multiple opinion polls have shown that a majority of Israelis support establishing such an inquiry.

The vote was held only four days after nationwide memorials and protests commemorating 1,000 days since Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel, killed some 1,200 people, abducted 251 hostages, and launched the Gaza war. Thousands congregated at sites across Israel to demand that the government establish a state commission of inquiry into the failures surrounding the onslaught.

The scope of the investigation will be determined by the coalition-appointed commission, which Netanyahu has said must include the 1993 Oslo Accords, the 2005 Disengagement from Gaza and the 2023 protest movement against the current government’s judicial overhaul agenda, in an attempt to deflect blame for his government’s failure to prevent the attack.

Netanyahu has served as prime minister since 2009, with the exception of 18 months in 2021-2022. He presided over a policy of encouraging Qatar to send hundreds of millions of dollars into Hamas-run Gaza, which he publicly defended as essential to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in the coastal enclave.

Critics accuse the prime minister, who did not attend the vote in person, of using the political probe to shield himself and his government from responsibility. Netanyahu has never accepted explicit responsibility for the attack, instead blaming security forces, previous governments, the judiciary and political opponents.

The October Council, an anti-government group comprising hundreds of bereaved families, survivors and former hostages, accused the government on Monday of bringing forward the legislation to “absolve itself of its share of responsibility for the greatest massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust.”

“This disgraceful bill is not intended to uncover the truth, but to bury it alongside our loved ones,” the group said.

“Moshe Gafni, Aryeh Deri and Yitzhak Goldknopf — we will pursue you day and night for trading the blood of our loved ones for money. This is not Judaism, and these are not its values,” the statement continued, referring to the leaders of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism and Shas parties.

The vote followed a reported agreement between Netanyahu and the ultra-Orthodox parties ending their boycott of coalition legislation last month.

Under the deal, the coalition agreed to advance key Haredi priorities, including a bill to enshrine Torah study as a Basic Law and to freeze arrests and sanctions against draft evaders, in exchange for their support for the coalition’s own legislative agenda, principally their October 7 probe and a pair of bills to erode the power of the attorney general.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has panned the legislation, describing it as “tailor-made” for the “personal” needs of the government.

The Justice Ministry has also criticized the legislation, with a representative telling the Knesset Constitution Committee tasked with preparing the bill in June that while proponents of the legislation claimed that the commission would be established through a process that enjoys “broad consensus” and reflects “the majority of the public,” the current proposal “undermines that principle.”

They added that according to the current draft, “it is entirely possible that only the coalition will appoint commission members.”

Opposition leaders unanimously condemned the vote, and vowed to repeal it and form a state commission of inquiry in a future government.

“The opposition will not be part of a fake show whose sole purpose is to whitewash and prevent the investigation of the largest disaster that has befallen the Jewish people since the Holocaust. In the first month of the next government, we will establish a state commission of inquiry to investigate the October 7 massacre,” said Opposition Leader Yair Lapid.

Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot said: “Only someone who knows the truth and fears it establishes a politically appointed commission of inquiry designed to cover up the truth and rewrite public perception after the fact.”

“No whitewash commission established by a failed and corrupt government will erase this failure, and no Knesset vote will save those responsible from being held accountable,” said The Democrats party chief Yair Golan.

He added that the next government “will establish a state commission of inquiry. And Netanyahu will be the first to face full accountability.”