Supreme Court president Amit delegates authority to determine judicial panel for Oct. 7 inquiry petitions to deputy

Supreme Court President Isaac Amit delegates his authority to determine the members of the expanded judicial panel hearing petitions demanding the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into the events of October 7, 2023, to Deputy Supreme Court President Noam Sohlberg.

Amit says he is giving Sohlberg the authority since if a state commission were to be established, he as Supreme Court president would be empowered to choose the members of that panel, under the terms of the 1969 law for state commissions.

“I am of the opinion that in the interest of probity, it would not be appropriate for me to issue decisions in these proceedings,” says Amit of the petitions asking the court to order the government to establish a state commission into the October 7 invasion and atrocities.

In November, the Supreme Court sitting in its capacity as the High Court of Justice issued a conditional order against the government requiring it to justify why it is not establishing a state commission of inquiry.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes the formation of a state commission, and has resisted pressure to do so throughout the more than two years since the deadly Hamas onslaught.

The government has claimed that, because a state commission is appointed by the judiciary – whose powers his government has sought to curb – it would be biased against the government.

Petitioners to the court have argued that a state commission is the only tool available to investigate the catastrophe in a politically independent and comprehensive manner.