More Likud ministers join panel to define mandate of coalition’s controversial Oct. 7 probe
Families of October 7 victims denounce government committee as a ‘cover-up,’ slamming ministers who oppose an independent inquiry into the Hamas-led atrocities
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleAriela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.
Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman and Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi from the ruling Likud party are expected to join the ministerial panel tasked with determining the mandate of the government’s controversial commission of inquiry into failures surrounding the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, according to Hebrew media reports Monday.
The potential appointment of Silman has drawn particular outrage from bereaved families, as the minister has previously voiced objection to the idea of a commission of inquiry, and has, like other members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, sought to deflect blame for the October 7 attacks, instead suggesting that the role of previous governments needs to be examined.
Responding to the news, the October Council, made up of bereaved families and relatives of former hostages, said: “In his usual spin, Netanyahu decided to add Minister Idit Silman to the ministerial ‘cover-up’ committee — the same minister who said: ‘A state commission of inquiry? What does that mean?”
The group added that the government’s commission of inquiry is an attempt “to erase the greatest disaster in Israel’s history, and to normalize a situation in which the investigated appoint their own investigators,” calling it “a spit in the face of the bereaved families, reservists, residents of the north and south, and the citizens of the entire State of Israel.”
The council has said that it will escalate demonstrations across the country, calling for an independent state commission of inquiry to be established and to oppose the prime minister’s “blatantly illegal committee.”
Netanyahu has long refused to establish an independent state commission of inquiry, the country’s highest investigative authority, which polls find a large majority of Israelis believe to be necessary.
The panel will be led by Likud Justice Minister Yariv Levin and composed entirely of government ministers, all of whom, except Ze’ev Elkin of Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope party, were in office during the October 7 atrocities, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages in the deadliest attack in the country’s history, sparking the war in Gaza.
In effect, the government will be in charge of overseeing a commission tasked with investigating its own actions.
Other members of the panel include Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Settlements and National Missions Minister Orit Strock from the far-right Religious Zionism party; National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu of Ben Gvir’s ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit party; and Likud’s Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter, Science and Technology Minister Gila Gamliel, and Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli.
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