\n The Israeli parliament approved a bill in its first reading on Monday to set up a commission of inquiry into the security failings that led to the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"The purpose of the proposed law is to bring about a full, thorough, and independent investigation of the events of the... October 7 massacre\" and the wars that followed, an explanatory note to the bill said.\n<\/p>\n
\n The bill passed its first reading in the Knesset, Israel's 120-seat parliament, with 59 votes in favour and none against or abstaining.\n<\/p>\n
\n Opposition lawmakers, who want a different kind of commission not appointed by politicians, boycotted the vote.\n<\/p>\n
\n Under the proposed law, the commission's six members would be appointed by a two-thirds majority of Knesset members. In the absence of an agreement, however, three members would be appointed by the ruling coalition and three by opposition lawmakers.\n<\/p>\n
\n Former hostages or bereaved family members would serve as observers, while the commission's deliberations would be broadcast to the public, according to the bill.\n<\/p>\n
\n Likud party lawmaker Ariel Kallner, who initiated the legislation, defended the body's bipartisan composition.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Only a commission appointed in an egalitarian manner will allow us both to uncover the truth and maintain the public's trust. This will be a commission that can investigate any entity that influenced Israel's security policy at its core,\" he said in a statement published by the Knesset.\n<\/p>\n
\n Opposition figures have said they would boycott a commission appointed by politicians.\n<\/p>\n
\n In such a scenario, the power to appoint members would ultimately fall to the speaker of parliament, effectively handing control of the process to the governing coalition.\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'Whitewash' -\n<\/p>\n
\n The opposition has long called for the establishment of an independent state commission of inquiry, a mechanism Israel has frequently used to investigate major national failures in the past.\n<\/p>\n
\n Opinion polls suggest that a majority of Israelis across the political spectrum support such a body conducting the probe.\n<\/p>\n
\n Members of a state commission of inquiry would be appointed by the president of the Supreme Court, which has long been at odds with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government over a range of issues.\n<\/p>\n
\n Opposition leader Yair Lapid explained the boycott of Monday's vote.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"The opposition will not be part of a sham whose sole purpose is to whitewash and prevent the investigation of the greatest disaster to befall the Jewish people since the Holocaust,\" he wrote on X.\n<\/p>\n
\n The bill will now return to the Knesset Constitution Committee for further discussion ahead of final readings, which are expected to take place next week before the Knesset dissolves.\n<\/p>\n
\n On Thursday, thousands of people took to the streets in Tel Aviv and elsewhere across Israel to mark 1,000 days since the October 7 attack and to call for a state commission of inquiry.\n<\/p>\n
\n Eight people were arrested for causing disturbances during the demonstrations, police said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Israeli parliament approved a bill in its first reading on Monday to set up a commission of inquiry into the security failings that led to the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. \"The purpose of the proposed law is to bring about a full, thorough, and independent investigation of the events of the... October […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-161462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n