Coalition defeats motion to establish state commission of inquiry into October 7

By Sam Sokol 22 December 2025, 2:24 pm

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Sam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. 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"

A Hamas terrorist in a body bag is seen in Kibbutz Be'eri, Oct. 11, 2023. (AP/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Coalition members on the Knesset State Control Committee vote 5-4 to defeat an opposition motion to establish a state commission of inquiry into the failures surrounding Hamas’s onslaught on October 7, 2023.

“We will raise the issue again, and we will not let up,” says chairman MK Alon Schuster of the Blue and White party.

State commissions are established by a cabinet resolution, which also lays out the mandate of the commission, but are then entirely independent of the government. However, they can also be created by a vote in the Knesset State Control Committee.

The State Control Committee voted down a similar motion in October.

Earlier, the Ministerial Committee for Legislation voted to back Likud MK Ariel Kallner’s bill establishing a contentious “national state investigation committee” whose members would be chosen by politicians.