Israeli opposition leader says no talks with Netanyahu on forming investigation committee

By Zein Khalil

JERUSALEM (AA) - Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid denied on Sunday any contacts with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the formation of an official investigation committee into the events of Oct. 7, 2023.

“For everyone who asked, there are no contacts with Netanyahu regarding the composition of a state investigative committee,” wrote Lapid on X.

“There is a law, and the law is clear: only the President of the Supreme Court determines the composition of an investigative committee,” he added.

He stressed: “I will not participate in any games. We need an investigation committee, and it should be set up immediately.”

Meanwhile, the Israeli Army Radio reported that Netanyahu "is seeking to select members of the investigation committee into the Oct. 7 failure, in collaboration with the opposition."

“Netanyahu's goal behind this is to prevent the President of the Supreme Court, Israel's highest judicial body, from selecting the members of the investigation committee and to ensure that a judge from the same court is not chosen as a member of the committee,” it added.

Unlike military leaders and political officials in Israel, Netanyahu has not yet accepted responsibility for failing to anticipate the attack by Palestinian resistance fighters on Oct. 7.

Netanyahu has repeatedly stated that an official investigation committee into these attacks should only be formed after the war concludes.

However, on Thursday, families of Israeli hostages and soldiers killed in the war submitted a petition to the Supreme Court, urging the government to establish an official investigation committee.

On Friday, the court ordered the government to respond to the petition within a month.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.

More than 37,800 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and more than 86,800 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Over eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi