The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, chaired by MK Yuli Edelstein (Likud), last Thursday voted unanimously to form a special subcommittee for examining the IDF’s internal investigations into the events of October 7 and Operation Iron Swords.
The subcommittee will also be chaired by MK Edelstein, and include MKs Ram Ben Barak (Yesh Atid), Meir Cohen (Yesh Atid), Merav Michaeli (The Democrats), Zvi Sukkot (Religious Zionism), Gadi Eisenkot (National Unity), Yinon Azoulay (Shas), Zeev Elkin (New Hope), Sharon Nir (Yisrael Beitenu), Moshe Roth (United Torah Judaism), Limor Sonn Har Melech (Otzma Yehudit), and Boaz Bismuth (Likud).
A statement issued by the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee stated: “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.”
Committee and Subcommittee Chair 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 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 concluded.
Back in November 2023, 8200 commander Yossi Sariel presented the results of his investigation into his unit’s functioning on October 7 to the head of Military Intelligence Aharon Haliva 9who has since resigned), behind closed doors. According to reports, the meeting was long and at times tense and turbulent, to the point that some officers left the room. Sariel accepted responsibility, but according to people who were in the room, he used a lot of words like “malfunctions” and “errors,” and although he presented the facts – he avoided drawing clear and personal conclusions.
Can an investigation of the army by the army be truly honest and comprehensive? The current IDF self-examination is exposed as self-serving when it comes to the development of the Conceptzia, according to which Hamas was deterred following harsh Israeli attacks on Gaza, and the way to keep industrial peace was by allowing the Qataris to send Gaza millions, and for Israel to increase the number of Gaza day workers who were permitted across its border to 20,000 and more.
Regarding the formation of the Conceptzia, the army decided that the examination of this subject should begin in 2018, and not before. And if this choice seems somewhat arbitrary, and the suspicious reader is asking what makes that year different from other years, the answer is that in 2018 it was decided to transfer the Qatari money to Hamas suitcases full of cash.
In other words, by choosing to focus on 2018 as the start of the Conceptzia, the army places the responsibility on the political echelon, never mind that the security establishment had been recommending just that move.
By making the Qatari funds out to be the core of the Conceptzia, the clever brass is avoiding discussions of the role of former IDF chiefs of staff Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot in cutting the size of the IDF by half, turning it into a slim army that relies on technological advances, and, of course, nearly getting rid of the armored corps.
In other words, Committee Chairman Edelstein is correct in investigating the investigators. It’s a start.
