From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, September 2, 2025
Netanyahu said considering forming a hand-picked panel to lead commission of inquiry into Oct. 7 disaster
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly considering forming a hand-picked panel to lead a commission of inquiry into the failures surrounding the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led onslaught as an alternative to an independent, powerhouse state commission of inquiry, which he has refused to authorize.
According to a Channel 12 report this evening, Netanyahu is inclining toward a “government” inquiry — a five-person panel, comprised of members of his choosing — to examine the failure surrounding the October 7 assault.
He is leaning toward this course, having concluded that Supreme Court President Isaac Amit, who would be expected to appoint a retired Supreme Court justice to head a state commission, was unlikely to coordinate and compromise with him on the members of a state commission of inquiry. Netanyahu believes Amit would appoint former Supreme Court president Esther Hayut, a former adversary who has castigated the coalition’s efforts to radically limit the powers and independence of the Supreme Court, to head such a panel, the unsourced report says.
Among those he is reportedly eyeing to serve on the panel are a specific retired district judge and a former IDF general, who are seen as coming from the political right.
Netanyahu’s potential panel would be given the same powers as a state commission of inquiry, which includes the authority to subpoena witnesses. The key difference, the report notes, however, is that the panel would be picked by the prime minister who held overall responsibility on, and long before, October 7.
A state commission would likely implicate Netanyahu in the October 7 failures, and would have the power to issue personal recommendations against him and others it deemed responsible. Netanyahu has argued that a substantial part of the populace would doubt the findings of a state commission since they do not have faith in the integrity of the judiciary.
Almost two years on from the onslaught, the government has yet to take any formal steps to form a commission of inquiry.
The Times of Israel Community.