‘Looking for an alibi’: Opposition slams report that PM will lead panel setting scope of Oct. 7 probe

By Sam Sokol 18 December 2025, 11:52 am

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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"

(Clockwise from top left): The Democrats chief Yair Golan, Yesh Atid chief and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, Blue and White chief Benny Gantz and Yisrael Beytenu chief Avigdor Liberman hold a joint press conference at the Knesset in Jerusalem, November 6, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Opposition lawmakers react angrily to a report that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will head a ministerial panel that will set the scope of a contentious government-led probe into the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack.

They say the prime minister should not be in charge of the effort, given that he was leading Israel when the attack, the deadliest in Israel’s history, took place.

“Netanyahu at the head of the committee to determine the mandate? Let’s save the bureaucracy and just let him write the verdict straight away. This isn’t ‘conflict of interest,’ it’s organized crime under the guise of the law,” Democrats party chairman Yair Golan posts on X.

“The man responsible for the greatest disaster in our history isn’t looking for answers, he’s looking for an alibi,” Golan charges. “This committee won’t investigate failures — it will investigate how to pin the blame on the army, on the protest movement, or even on the kibbutz members [who were attacked]. The mandate is clear: to whitewash the leader and cling to power by force.”

Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman tweets a Hebrew phrase meaning “a guilty conscience gives itself away,” while Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party announces that it will bring a motion to the Knesset State Control Committee on Monday to require the government to establish a state commission of inquiry, Israel’s highest investigative authority.

Polls show most Israelis support a state commission of inquiry. Netanyahu has claimed such a body would be biased because it will be led by judges whose power his government has tried to curb.

Establishing an alternative committee would be both “a blow to security” and an offense to the families of the victims of October 7, says Gantz. “In the face of this disgrace, we will continue to insist that the failure be investigated, the lessons learned, and the truth brought to light.”

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. They can also be created by a vote in the Knesset State Control Committee.

The State Control Committee voted down a previous motion to establish a state commission of inquiry in October.