Opposition leaders denounced the government\u2019s efforts to create a new investigative mechanism instead of establishing a state commission of inquiry, with Opposition Leader Yair Lapid saying it was designed to \u201cbury the truth\u201d and hoodwink the Israeli public.<\/p>\n
\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/vlcsnap-2025-05-29-18h20m34s599-640x400.jpg\")
\n\t\tHamas terrorists are seen in the Home Front Command\u2019s Southern District base near Urim, on October 7, 2023. (Screenshot: Channel 12 news)<\/p>\n
Under the terms of Kallner\u2019s bill<\/a>, the members of the commission of inquiry would be appointed in a vote in the Knesset plenum of at least 80 MKs, meaning the proposed panel would need at least some opposition support to pass. If, as expected, the opposition refuses to support the proposed panel, the coalition and opposition will be able to appoint equal numbers of commission members. And if the opposition boycotts the process entirely, as it has vowed to do, the Knesset speaker \u2014 in this case Likud MK Amir Ohana \u2014 would ultimately choose all members of the commission.<\/p>\n In a later video message on Monday, Netanyahu argued that an event on the scale of October 7 necessitated a \u201cspecial commission,\u201d akin to the special commission appointed in the US after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.<\/p>\n \u201cNo one then complained about political bias, and I must say that its conclusions received broad legitimacy precisely for this reason. That is exactly what we are doing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \t \u201cThe government could have established a governmental review committee, whose entire composition would be determined solely by the government,\u201d Netanyahu maintained. \u201cBut I believed that such a committee would earn the trust of only part of the public.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLikewise, a commission of inquiry whose composition would be determined exclusively by Justice Yitzhak Amit, as proposed by the opposition, would gain the trust of only a small segment of the public that believes in it,\u201d Netanyahu continued, avoiding referring to the Supreme Court president by his title.<\/p>\n \u201cI say to the opposition: Go ahead \u2014 bring whatever experts you want, ask whatever questions you want, investigate whomever you want \u2014 including me,\u201d continued the prime minister.\u00a0\u201cAll issues will be examined, without exception. The political, the security, the intelligence, the legal \u2014 everything.\u201d<\/p>\n Successive polls have found that most of the public favors a state commission of inquiry \u2014 either appointed exclusively by Amit, or jointly with his conservative deputy, Noam Sohlberg, both options that Netanyahu has ruled out.<\/p>\n Netanyahu, as finance minister in the Sharon government, voted several times in favor of key steps advancing the 2005 Disengagement from Gaza in 2004 and 2005, although he ultimately resigned in August 2005 in protest against the plan, just a week before its implementation.<\/p>\n Although Netanyahu opposed the Oslo Accords before they were signed, he never acted to reverse them after he took office as prime minister in 1996 and again in 2009, and signed and partially implemented additional components of the Oslo process, including the Hebron Protocol and the Wye River Memorandum.<\/p>\n \t During the meeting of the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, which voted to back the bill to create the new commission of inquiry, Minister in the Finance Ministry Ze\u2019ev Elkin was the only minister to oppose it. Elkin expressed concern over a clause in the bill that says the Knesset speaker will choose the members of the commission if the opposition boycotts the process, as it has vowed to do.<\/p>\n This would mean that the coalition would appoint all members of the commission of inquiry, which Elkin pointed out would be no different than establishing a government commission of inquiry, something already available under existing law.<\/p>\n The opposition was scathing in its criticism of the government\u2019s proposed inquiry, accusing Netanyahu and his ministers of trying to absolve themselves of blame for the events of October 7.<\/p>\n \u201cThose directly responsible for the disaster will appoint a cover-up commission whose sole purpose is to clear them of guilt. It will not help them. They are guilty,\u201d Lapid declared.<\/p>\n \u201cThis committee is not meant to investigate the truth; it is meant to bury the truth. Politicians will control it, and its goal is to pollute the testimonies, destroy evidence, mislead and confuse the public,\u201d he added, calling the commission \u201ca death certificate for the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n Similarly, Democrats chairman Yair Golan blasted the proposed commission of inquiry, declaring that this \u201cpathetic attempt to engineer a political investigation is an admission of guilt.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident \u2013 ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded \u2013 I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.<\/p>\n There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.<\/p>\n As a Times of Israel reporter, I\u2019m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit\u2019s. But my colleagues and I can’t do this alone. If you value work like this, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.<\/p>\n \u2014 Stav Levaton, military reporter<\/p>\n \t\t\t
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\n\t\tAn Israeli soldier walks by a house destroyed by Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Be\u2019eri, October 11, 2023. (AP Photo\/Baz Ratner)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Houghton_house_Netanyahu_Albright_Arafat-640x400.jpg\")
\n\t\tPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and Yasser Arafat with the Wye River Memorandum, 1998. (Wikipedia)<\/p>\n
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