High Court gives government another delay for answer on establishing Oct. 7 state commission of inquiry

The High Court of Justice agrees to a request by the government to grant it another 90 days before updating the court as to its position on establishing a state commission of inquiry into the failures leading up to, during and after the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion and atrocities.

The government must now provide the court with a new update by May 11.

The government informed the court earlier this month that the cabinet held a hearing on the issue, in accordance with a ruling by the High Court in December last year ordering the government to hold such a hearing within 60 days, and that the “overwhelming majority” of ministers were of the opinion that the “time was not ripe” to establish a commission.

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, which petitioned the High Court demanding a state commission of inquiry, described that cabinet meeting as “a new pinnacle in shirking responsibility and contempt for the public.”

The government has fiercely opposed the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 catastrophe, originally on the grounds that such an inquiry could not be conducted while Israel was at war, but increasingly due to accusations by several cabinet ministers that such a commission would be biased against the government.

State commissions of inquiry have been established in the past to look into other military failures, including the events of the Yom Kippur War in 1973 and the Sabra and Shatila massacre in Lebanon in 1982.

A government commission of inquiry, in which the government appoints the members of the commission, was established to investigate the failures of the 2006 Second Lebanon War, although it was granted some of the powers of the more rigorous and independent state commissions, including the power to subpoena witnesses.