Police said planning to probe attempt to storm High Court’s Oct. 7 inquiry hearing

Police have decided to open an investigation into pro-government activists’ attempt to storm the High Court during a hearing on petitions demanding a state commission of inquiry into the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion and atrocities, according to a Channel 12 report on Saturday.

According to the unsourced report, the decision was made after police consulted with the State Attorney’s Office.

A mob of supporters of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government attempted to break into the courtroom on Thursday, while chanting “Judge the judges” and calling Supreme Court President Isaac Amit “a dictator.”

The incident forced an abrupt halt to proceedings and the evacuation of the High Court justices from the courtroom amid security concerns. The hearing resumed after some 30 minutes.

It is unclear how many people were involved.

While High Court hearings are typically open, the court had decided to hold a closed hearing on Thursday, precisely due to “concerns of interruptions, disturbances and outbursts” that would make the hearing impossible.

The attempted break-in followed ugly scenes outside the court before the hearing began, as bereaved families on different sides of the political aisle engaged in mutual recriminations over who was responsible for the October 7 disaster, when invading Hamas-led terrorists killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.

Bereaved families supportive of the government accused those demanding a state commission of inquiry of seeking a “whitewash” for responsibility over the October 7 attack, and of “having opened the gates” to the massacre.

Netanyahu has long opposed the formation of a state commission of inquiry, claiming that because a state commission is appointed by the judiciary — whose powers his government has sought to curb — it would be biased against him. His government has instead sought to promote a politically appointed probe.

Critics, including many families who lost relatives on October 7 and the subsequent war, have accused the government of evading responsibility for the disaster by refusing to appoint a state commission, and called on the High Court to ensure that an independent investigation into the Hamas invasion and massacres is established.

The justices were highly critical during the hearing of the government’s failure to appoint any form of investigative committee into the catastrophic events of October 7. Nevertheless, judges asked the representative of the attorney general’s office if it would not be better for the court to wait until after the pending general election to make a ruling on the issue, and expressed concern over the public legitimacy of a court-ordered commission of inquiry.

The justices did not reach any decision, saying they needed to further study the issue.