From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, November 26, 2024
Independent Oct. 7 commission: Netanyahu ‘responsible for undermining all decision-making centers’
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
In a scathing report, the independent Civilian Commission of Inquiry investigating the government’s failures on and leading up to Hamas’s October 7, 2023, finds Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “responsible for undermining all decision-making centers, including the cabinet and the National Security Council, in a way that prevented any serious discussion that includes a plurality of opinions on significant security issues.”
In its final report, the commission states that Netanyahu was responsible for silencing critics of his “cash for quiet” approach to handling Hamas and that the prime minister “is responsible for ignoring the pull on his coattails and the warnings” ahead of October 7.
Netanyahu was also responsible “for the fact that it was not possible to provide a response to the various needs in the home front due to the chaos between the ministries,” the report adds.
While Netanyahu was responsible for the decision not to strike Hamas preemptively, former prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid also shoulder blame for “maintaining the concept of cash for quiet, albeit in different ways,” the commission states.
