Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not accept the legal opinion that a national committee of inquiry is the “specific and only” tool to investigate the October 7 Hamas massacre, Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara revealed in a letter on Thursday.
The letter was a response to the prime minister’s request for independent legal representation in a petition against him in the High Court of Justice to force him to form a national committee of inquiry. The attorney-general is the statutory legal representative in High Court cases but agreed to the prime minister’s request since she could not defend his position.
A national committee of inquiry is the most powerful probe in Israel’s legal system and the only type of probe that operates completely independently of the political echelon. Its members are appointed by the chief justice, and it has the power to subpoena witnesses and make personal recommendations regarding individuals. The other types of probes are government-appointed and parliament-appointed inquiry committees.
According to Baharav-Miara, the October 7 massacre and ensuing war included a “unique and extreme accumulation of circumstances, unprecedented, unlike any other case discussed in the past, among other reasons due to its difficult results, its far-reaching effect on the country, far-reaching effect on the public, and its public importance and strategic significance, for the short and long term.”
A national committee of inquiry was therefore “distinctively” the “specific and only existing toll that exists in law that is appropriate to investigating the events of the war.” This includes the events leading up to, during, and after October 7, and the conduct of the prime minister, the defense minister, and the IDF, in general, in order to counter ongoing investigations by the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court.
“A national committee of inquiry is the way to counter the severe and immediate threats facing the country on the international stage, and to defend it,” Baharav-Miara wrote, adding that this too was a reason why the government should form an inquiry “soon.”
Continued disagreements
According to numerous reports, Netanyahu has pushed for a committee of inquiry regarding Israel’s conduct in the war that will delay and perhaps cancel the ICC and ICJ investigations, but not one that will investigate the events related to October 7.
The prime minister has said that investigating the massacre would get in the way of the ongoing war, but opponents argued that his real intention is to avoid forming the committee in order to avoid being deemed responsible for the disaster.
Netanyahu reportedly suggested forming a government committee of inquiry (and not a national committee) with international observers, but Baharav-Miara opined that this would not provide a sufficient legal umbrella to counter the international investigations.