Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar told Kan that he would approve a state commission of inquiry into Case 3000, the “Submarines Affair.”
A number of former top aides to former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu have already been indicted in a separate criminal case, so this commission would go beyond criminal issues and examine whether the government had functioned properly in dealing with the submarines.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz has been pushing for such an inquiry for several months, but was thwarted by Netanyahu under the previous government.
Gantz had also been rebuffed by Sa’ar in the early days of the current government because the justice minister said that rolling out such a commission was his purview.
In the end, it appears that Sa’ar did not oppose Gantz’s idea as much as that he wanted control over the powers and setup of the commission.
Some of the core questions the commission would be expected to examine are whether Netanyahu acted appropriately in completing aspects of the submarine deals with Germany behind the back of the defense minister and top IDF officials, and whether the submarines were necessary for Israeli security.
Meanwhile, Mount Meron Commission Chairwoman Miriam Naor announced on Sunday that her commission would publish an interim report to try to fix problems at the holy site before Lag Ba’Omer next spring.
The commission has been hearing witnesses for weeks, but may take many more months before it finishes collecting testimony.
By issuing an interim report, the commission can hope to influence planning for Lag Ba’Omer even if the final report is issued much later.
The commission said that all institutions involved in Meron issues should send final updates by October 17 as part of the process for compiling the interim report.