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After repeated delays, the government of Israel has agreed to launch an investigation into the failures that led to the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023.
However, questions regarding the independence of the investigation have already raised allegations that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is attempting to avoid personal responsibility for the country’s worst attack. Following major government failures, Israel has traditionally appointed an independent state commission led by a retired judge.
Netanyahu has resisted calls for such an investigation into the October 7 failures, saying only that he will answer all questions once the war ends. In Sunday’s decision he said the ceasefire that came into effect on October 10 allows the government to begin an investigation.
His wardrobe The formation of a weak “Government Committee” was approved. Netanyahu will oversee the team overseeing the investigation, putting him in charge of the investigation. More details about the inquiry will be announced in 45 days.
Israel’s opposition leader, Yair Lapiddescribed the decision as an insult to the victims of October 7 and the hundreds of soldiers killed in the war.
“The government is doing everything possible to run away from the truth and avoid responsibility,” Lapid said.
The Movement for Quality Government in Israel has criticized Netanyahu, saying “the government is setting up a commission that will investigate itself.” “This is not a commission of inquiry, it is a cover-up commission.”
In the October 7 attack, Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people and took more than 250 others hostage. Since then, about 500 soldiers have been killed in the fighting. palestinian Health officials say more than 69,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli counterattacks Hamas,
According to a survey of JerusalemAccording to the Israel Democracy Institute, a U.S.-based think tank, last month, nearly three-quarters of the public supported a fully independent commission of inquiry. Even among Netanyahu’s right-wing base, 68% supported an independent commission. The survey questioned 1,000 people and had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
Thousands of people demonstrated on Saturday night Tel AvivMany people are demanding an independent investigation.
Netanyahu, who is on trial for war-related corruption charges, says Israel’s judiciary has too much power and claimed an independent investigation would not get the “broadest possible public support”.
“The only way to ensure public confidence in the Commission’s work is through broad consensus regarding the Commission’s composition,” he said.
The Israeli military and other security bodies opened several investigations into its failures on 7 October.
But the new inquiry will also look at government decision-making and the assumptions that led to the attack.
Several security figures have said that Netanyahu’s attempt to overhaul the country’s judicial system, which sparked mass demonstrations and public division before the war, sent a message of weakness that emboldened Israel’s enemies to attack. Netanyahu rejected the allegations.
many Israel They believe the mistakes of October 7 extend beyond the military, and they blame Netanyahu for what he called a failed strategy of deterrence and containment in the years before the attack. That strategy included allowing Queue to send suitcases of cash Gaza and sidelined internationally recognized rival Hamas Palestinian Authority,
An Israeli military investigation determined that a central misconception was that Hamas, which seized control of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority in 2007, was more interested in ruling the territory than fighting Israel.
The investigation also found that Hamas was able to carry out the October 7 attack because the more powerful Israeli military misunderstood the terrorist group’s intentions and underestimated its capabilities.
Military planners had envisioned that, in a worst-case scenario, Hamas could launch a ground offensive against up to eight border points, but on October 7, Hamas had more than 60 attack routes.
A number of high-ranking officials in the military and security establishment at that time, including the military chief of staff, the chief of military intelligence and the defense minister, have resigned or been ousted.