AG tells Netanyahu she won’t represent him in efforts to block Oct. 7 state commission of inquiry

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara tells Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that she opposes his position not to establish a state commission of inquiry into the failings leading up to Hamas’s devastating October 7 invasion and atrocities until after the current war ends.

She says therefore that her office will not represent the government in petitions to the High Court of Justice that have asked the court to order the government to establish such a commission, and authorizes the cabinet to take independent counsel to present its position.

Baharav-Miara says that the events of October 7 were unprecedented in Israel’s history from the perspective of the severe consequences of Hamas’s attack, and its far-reaching impact on the country and the general public, as well as its strategic repercussions.

“My professional opinion… is that because of the extreme circumstances it is critically important that the investigation of the events of the war and learning its lessons should be carried out with total professional independence, through the best and only mechanism available under the law, and totally disconnected from any external influence on the manner in which the investigation is conducted, and it’s results,” the attorney general tells Netanyahu.

She insists that a state commission of inquiry is the only appropriate framework for such an investigation.

The attorney general adds that such a commission would also protect Israel from proceedings against it and senior government officials in international courts.

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague has requested arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for crimes against humanity and war crimes he alleges have been committed in Gaza during Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas. The court has yet to decide whether or not to issue the warrants.

State commissions of inquiry can either be established by a government resolution or the Knesset’s State Control Committee, and are independent panels whose members are selected by the Supreme Court president from among serving or retired Supreme Court or district court judges.

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, one of the petitioners, describes the attorney general’s decision as “dramatic and unprecedented,” and that it “expresses clear proof to the fact that the government’s [decision to] refrain from establishing a commission of inquiry contravenes the public interest and the principles of law and proper administration.”

Netanyahu has said probes into October 7 failures need to wait until the end of the war and has refused to commit to a state commission of inquiry.