Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee says “the forum will serve as a tool for oversight and examination of all of the IDF’s investigative reports in the absence of a state commission of inquiry.”
By United with Israel
The Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Thursday voted unanimously to form a special subcommittee for examining the IDF’s internal investigations into its conduct before, during, and after the events of the October 7 massacre perpetrated by Hamas.
The move comes several weeks after the IDF published its first report on events at Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7.
The subcommittee is to be be chaired by Likud MK Yuli Edelstein, and will also include MKs Ram Ben Barak (Yesh Atid), Meir Cohen (Yesh Atid), Merav Michaeli (Labor), Tzvi Sukkot (Religious Zionism), Gadi Eisenkot (National Unity Party), Yinon Azoulay (Shas), Zeev Elkin (New Hope – The United Right), Sharon Nir (Yisrael Beitenu), Moshe Roth (United Torah Judaism), Limor Sonn Har Melech (Otzma Yehudit) and Boaz Bismuth (Likud).
According to statement released by the committee, “In the absence of a state commission of inquiry, the forum will serve as a tool for oversight and examination of all of the IDF’s investigative reports, as well as the IDF investigation on behalf of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.”
“The subcommittee will summon all the elements that are relevant to the investigative reports – whether military, governmental, or civilian,” the statement added.
Edelstein said, “For several months now, I have been calling for the establishment of a state commission of inquiry, which is the unit that is authorized by law to access top secret materials. It is the nature of vacuums to be filled, and in the absence of a state commission, the army has begun to investigate itself. The subcommittee has been formed in order to oversee the IDF’s investigations and ensure that they are conducted as professionally, comprehensively and objectively as the law allows.”
“The investigations by the IDF, and other investigations, cannot and will not replace a state commission of inquiry, which should have been formed long ago,” he added.