The independent Civilian Commission of Inquiry into October 7 blames Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former defense ministers, and the heads of Israel's security services, among others, for the government's failures in the lead-up and on the day of Hamas attacks on Israel's civilians on Oct. 7, 2023.
If Israel wasn't at war, it's hard to see how Netanyahu could survive this "scathing" report, as the Times of Israel describes it.
“Arrogance and inherent blindness also led the political leadership to continue to work to strengthen Hamas by transferring funds and avoiding taking an offensive initiative in the face of threats, while idealizing reality and attempting to buy quiet from Hamas using money,” the report states.
The report also skewered Netanyahu for ignoring the threat of an attack after repeated warnings from his senior command which failed to start serious discussions about the growing Hamas threat because “the relationship between the prime minister and the political leadership, and the entire military and professional leadership, is poor or has not existed at all for a long time.”
Then-defense minister Yoav Gallant, the IDF chief of staff, the head of Military Intelligence and their predecessors were also responsible for the debacle, having, among other things, reduced the IDF’s presence along the Gaza frontier and abandoning the IDF’s observation troops to their fate, the commission finds.
Former senior defense officials, such as current opposition politician and ex-defense minister Benny Gantz, share responsibility for the IDF’s failures, including the idea of shifting to a “small and smart army,” the report charges.
The report states that the entire government had “failed its primary mission” and that the IDF, Shin Bet, and other organizations “completely failed to fulfill their sole objective — protecting the citizens of Israel.”
That may sound harsh, but the debate in Israel has been raging for more than a year now. The commission blames "arrogance" for the lapses, saying "the IDF was not prepared for the mass invasion of Israel by Hamas terrorists – even though their plan was known in advance.”
Former senior defense officials, such as current opposition politician and ex-defense minister Benny Gantz, share responsibility for the IDF’s failures, including the idea of shifting to a “small and smart army,” the report charges.
Moreover, the IDF chief of staff and senior leadership are responsible for “the lack of an operational response to ‘Jericho Wall’ and the warnings on the night of October 6 and the morning of October 7.”
The New York Times reported last year that Israel obtained Hamas’s plans for its assault on October 7, dubbed “Jericho Wall,” over a year before the devastating attack.
Israel's opposition leader Yair Lapid called the report “in-depth, comprehensive, and important.” Lapid testified before the commission in August and washed his hands of any responsibility for October 7. Lapid believes that “all the symptoms of October 6 are still present in this government a year afterward.”
One of those symptoms was Israel's belief that it could buy Hamas's good behavior. The commission blamed Netanyahu and former prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Lapid for “maintaining the concept of cash for quiet, albeit in different ways.”
The report was an eerie echo of the 9/11 Commission. Arrogance and a lack of imagination led to that disaster. I wonder, have we learned anything from those two infamous dates?
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