Culture minister on who is to blame for Oct. 7: ‘All Israeli citizens were complacent’

Culture Minister Miki Zohar declares that anybody who believes that an investigation into October 7 would point to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the main or sole figure responsible for the government’s failures is “living in a dream world.”

Speaking with the Walla news site, Zohar rejects claims that the politically appointed October 7 probe being advanced by the government would allow Netanyahu to avoid blame, adding that the proposed investigative panel would also look into the actions of “previous governments — Naftali Bennett, Yair Lapid, Benny Gantz, Avigdor Liberman — as well as security bodies including the Shin Bet.

“Anyone who thinks a commission would conclude that the main, the only culprit is Netanyahu is living in a dream world,” he declares. “This is a complex methodological event that goes back decades. All Israeli citizens were complacent; we were all in a euphoria.”

Zohar, who had previously supported establishing a state commission of inquiry, says that he now objects to one because members would be chosen by High Court President Isaac Amit, declaring that Amit was “chosen unilaterally” to the post and, as such, “only half the nation” could trust a commission he appointed.

Amit was chosen based on the decades-old seniority method used to elect all Supreme Court presidents, despite the government’s attempts to appoint its preferred candidate. He was sworn in as court president in February; the position had been vacant for 17 months. Justice Minister Yariv Levin fought the appointment of Amit every step of the way for over a year. After being repeatedly ordered by the Supreme Court, sitting in its capacity as the High Court of Justice, to appoint a new president, Levin boycotted the vote itself and has vowed to boycott Amit as head of the court as well.

On Wednesday evening, the Knesset voted in favor of a preliminary reading of a highly controversial bill to establish a politically appointed probe instead of a state commission of inquiry into October 7, drawing heated protests and condemnations from opposition lawmakers and bereaved families.

Speaking with Walla, Zohar also defends senior aides to Netanyahu implicated in the Qatargate probe.

The suspects, close Netanyahu aide Jonatan Urich and former spokesman Eli Feldstein, are alleged to have worked for a pro-Qatar lobbying firm, to have had contact with a foreign agent, and to have committed a series of corruption offenses involving lobbyists and businessmen while in the premier’s employ.

Zohar claims that their actions were “immoral” but not necessarily criminal and argues that the prime minister’s critics are “trying to find something connected” to him.

“From my acquaintance with Urich, he is a good person. It’s possible he got caught up in a situation. I’m not sure he knew exactly the nature of the client. He knew who he was representing, but not the significance that would result from it,” Zohar tells Walla. “Urich’s intentions were certainly not negative.”