Netanyahu reportedly to head committee that will determine scope of government-led probe of Oct. 7

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will head the ministerial team that will determine the scope of a contentious government-led commission of inquiry into the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught, Hebrew media outlets report.

A spokesperson for the prime minister does not immediately respond to a request for comment.

That ministerial team will convene for the first time on Monday, the Ynet news outlet says.

Plans for the government-led commission are advancing as Netanyahu and his allies have rejected setting up a state commission of inquiry to probe the massacre, the deadliest attack in Israel’s history.

Polls have shown that a majority of Israelis support a state commission of inquiry, Israel’s highest investigative authority. But Netanyahu claims such a probe would be biased against him because it would be led by the judiciary, which the government has been seeking to weaken.

Instead, the government has sought to form its own investigative commission. Critics have slammed the effort because the government that is forming the probe was the one in power on the day of the massacre.

A government-backed bill to establish that commission will be brought for a vote in the Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday.

Under the terms of the bill, the government would set the mandate and parameters for the commission of inquiry. The bill says the members of the committee would be chosen by the coalition and opposition, but the opposition has vowed not to cooperate.

The legislation allows the Knesset speaker, in that event, to choose committee members on behalf of the opposition.