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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar's call for a state commission of inquiry into the failures of October 7, addressing the issue during his remarks at Tel Aviv University's Cyber Week 2025 conference.
Bar had argued that only a full state commission could thoroughly investigate the intelligence and security lapses that enabled the Hamas-led attack, warning that avoiding such an inquiry would leave Israel exposed to "another catastrophe" in the future. His remarks set the stage for Netanyahu's response, which reflected ongoing debates over how the country should examine the events of that day. Netanyahu reiterated his long-standing position that a traditional state inquiry would not yield conclusions accepted by the broader public. He countered Bar's call by insisting that a government-backed national review offered a more credible and broadly supported path forward. "There was a failure here, a huge failure," Netanyahu told the conference. "This failure must be thoroughly examined; it must examine the political echelon, the military echelon, the security echelon, everyone." He stressed that such a wide-ranging examination would only be possible under the framework his government had endorsed. "And this is only possible if we do it as a broad national review," he asserted, framing the chosen mechanism as the most practical and unifying approach. Although described as "independent", the proposed review will have its mandate defined by cabinet ministers, who have said they will seek "as broad public approval as possible" when shaping the panel. This positioning underscores the government's argument that its model will enjoy wider legitimacy than a traditional commission. To strengthen his case, Netanyahu referenced the bipartisan commission established in the United States after the September 11, 2001, attacks. He said the model ensured that "nobody had any advantage, anyone could put forward any question." He added, "This is what will happen here, too. Everyone will come and everyone will be questioned, and only then will we reach the truth." Netanyahu's stance comes after years of resisting a state commission of inquiry into October 7. He initially argued that such a process could not take place during wartime and later expressed distrust in the High Court president's ability to appoint an impartial figure to lead the probe. Netanyahu and his government have also maintained that any findings issued by a state commission would not be accepted by a significant portion of the public. (ANI)
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