Weary of government’s delays, survivors launch unofficial October 7 probe
‘Civil commission,’ whose members include two retired generals and a former police chief, intends to investigate failures before, during and following Hamas attack
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
With Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly putting off the establishment of a state commission of inquiry to investigate the government’s failures that enabled the October 7 attacks, several groups representing survivors of the Hamas massacres and the families of those killed have announced the formation of an independent probe aimed at “reaching the truth and preventing the next disaster.”
At a press conference in Tel Aviv on Thursday, the survivors unveiled the lineup of their “civil commission of inquiry,” whose members include two retired generals, a former police commissioner and the author of the IDF’s official code of ethics.
Their mandate, organizers explained, will be to “carry out a complex and comprehensive investigative process, through the collection of testimonies and evidence,” leading to the publication of a report that can eventually form the basis of the work of a future state commission of inquiry.
The purpose of the independent probe will be “to exert broad public pressure for the establishment of a state commission of inquiry, and when this commission is established, the [civil] commission will halt its activities and will submit its findings to the chairman of the state commission,” they said in a statement — adding that the process will be overtly non-partisan.
Despite growing demands to do so, including from his own defense minister, Netanyahu has so far resisted forming a state commission of inquiry into the policy failings leading up to October 7 or the government’s handling of the war, even as the IDF has launched its own internal probes.
He has said investigations must wait until after the fighting ends and has repeatedly avoided committing to forming a state commission, which is the inquiry body that enjoys the broadest powers under Israeli law. With the war now in its 10th month, pressure has been growing to begin investigating events.
A sense of abandonment
Addressing reporters, representatives of the initiating organizations described a sense of abandonment by the Israeli government.
“We don’t know anything, which leaves us to relive October 7 every day. When there are no answers there is no healing process,” argued Hila Abir, representing the families of those killed. Her brother Lotan Abir was murdered while attending the Supernova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im.
“I stand here on behalf of my friends, the bereaved parents, and declare clearly and unequivocally: We will not be silent or let up, until a state commission of inquiry is established,” proclaimed Eyal Eshel — whose daughter Sgt. Roni Eshel, 19, a soldier in the Border Defense Corps, was killed on October 7.
“The voice of our girls was silenced. But we will not be silent. Not now and not ever,” he stated on behalf of the Their Voices Forum, which represents the parents of the female border surveillance soldiers who fell at Kibbutz Nahal Oz.
While the IDF’s ongoing internal investigations, and the publication of the first probe dealing with the army’s handling of the fighting at Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, began the process of “restoring the trust that has been lost,” it was insufficient and could not replace a full state commission, agreed community spokesman Alon Pauker. “This investigation should have been last and not first, [its focus] was micro and needed to be macro.”
A serious effort
While organizers see the civil commission as a way to pressure the government, members of the panel say they take their mandate seriously and plan to exhaustively probe the events that led to October 7, the government’s failures during the attack and its functioning in its immediate aftermath.
Asked by The Times of Israel whether they believed that serving officers in the IDF or other officials would be willing to speak to the commission — which has no subpoena power and lacks access to internal government documents — commission member Maj. Gen. (res.) Eyal Ben Reuven said that while members of the general staff were off the table, he believes reservists with knowledge of the defense establishment’s pre-war thinking would testify.
“We expect to receive a lot of information,” the former deputy chief of the IDF’s Northern Command said.
Speaking with The Times of Israel, retired district court judge and commission chairman Gideon Ginat said he believed that there were “many officials” who are interested in speaking with the unofficial panel, allowing it to get a glimpse into the political and military decision-making processes that led to October 7.
“I think it is their duty to speak,” he said, when asked if he believes former military officials with knowledge of the IDF’s prewar thinking would come forward. “And no doubt they will do so.”
Aside from Ben Reuven and Ginat, the commission also includes former police commissioner Shlomo Aharonishki; Brigadier general (Res.) Yehudit Grisaro; former Beit Shean Mayor Rafi Ben Shitrit, an ex-intelligence officer whose son was killed on October 7; and Tel Aviv University Prof. Asa Kasher, a prominent Israeli philosopher who helped write the IDF’s Code of Ethics.
The commission stated that it will provide a discrete space for people to speak anonymously and solicited the public to submit any relevant information through its website or WhatsApp.
This civil commission of inquiry is not the first probe to be launched by the public in relation to the events of October 7. A Civil Commission of Oct. 7 Crimes by Hamas Against Women and Children was previously established to draw international attention to the terror group’s use of sexual violence as a tool of war during the attacks.
