Knesset panel votes down Oct. 7 state commission of inquiry proposal; bereaved families: Coalition ‘burying the truth’

The Knesset State Control Committee votes down a proposal to establish a state commission of inquiry into the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack, blocking an opposition-led effort to launch an official and impartial investigation into failures before and during the onslaught.

Coalition committee members from the ruling Likud and ultra-orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties vote against the motion, while opposition MKs from Yesh Atid, Blue and White, and Ra’am back it.

The proposal would have allowed a committee, under the State Comptroller Law, to investigate the events surrounding the Hamas-led onslaught, which saw the murder of some 1,200 and the kidnapping of 251 in the country’s worst security and intelligence failure, as well as the subsequent war.

Opposition MKs condemn the outcome as a moral failure, with Democrats MK Efrat Rayten Marom saying responsibility for the disaster “lies squarely with Netanyahu,” and calling the absence of any representative from the Prime Minister’s Office at the hearing “a disgrace.”

Committee chair and Yesh Atid MK Mickey Levy warns that without such an inquiry, “public trust will continue to erode.”

The decision also provokes outrage among bereaved families.

Reut Edri, whose son Ido was murdered at the Nova festival, says, “There can be no revival [of the country] without responsibility and a real investigation.”

The October Council, representing over 200 bereaved families, accuses the coalition of “burying the truth” and declares that “the grace period for the Knesset is over,” vowing to continue public pressure until a state inquiry is established.

The government is considering establishing and appointing its own panel to investigate the catastrophic Hamas invasion and subsequent war instead of an impartial state commission of inquiry.

Polls show a majority of the Israeli public believes there should be a state commission of inquiry.