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Governmental investigation committees in Israel are committees that are usually formed in response to political pressure with the aim of investigating cases related to violations of the law and political and military failures.

Two types of committees can be distinguished:

Official investigative committees

Its work is regulated by the Investigation Committees Law issued in 1968, according to which the government forms an investigation committee in cases of importance to the public that require clarification, or in cases of governmental failure, as the government issues the decision to form the committee and refers it to the Supreme Court, which appoints its president and members.

The presidency of the committee is assigned to a practicing judge or a retired judge appointed by the court for this task to ensure its independence. Its membership usually includes three members, but the court, in consultation with the government, can appoint a larger number, provided that the appointment is individual.

The committee investigates the case before it and submits a final report on it to the government that includes its recommendations, which may range from recommending closing the file to submitting indictments against specific agencies or direct officials. These recommendations are not legally binding.

Government inspection committees

Its work is regulated by a law issued in 2001. It is formed by the government or one of its ministers to investigate a specific case that falls under the responsibility of the minister or the government in general.

The Prime Minister or the relevant minister appoints its members and head.

These committees do not have the authority to compel witnesses to appear before them or submit documents, and the recommendations issued by them are not binding on the government.

The following are the most prominent investigation committees formed by Israel following a number of wars and military failures, and their results:

Agranat Committee

It is an official investigation committee that was formed on November 21, 1973, following the October 6 war, which Egypt and Syria launched against Israel to regain the Egyptian land of Sinai and the Syrian Golan Heights.

The government assigned this committee the task of investigating the causes of the outbreak of war, the Israeli army’s preparations, the information obtained days before its outbreak, the military performance therein, and the factors of intelligence and military failure.

The committee was headed by Judge Shimon Agranat, who was then the president of the Supreme Court, and its members included Judge of the same court Moshe Lindiwi, retired chiefs of staff Yigal Yadin and Haim Laskov, and State Comptroller Yitzhak Nefentziel.

On April 1, 1974, the committee submitted a progress report that addressed the reasons for Israeli surprise at the outbreak of war, the performance of Prime Minister Golda Meir, Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, and the heads of the various security and military agencies.

The Agranat Committee submitted its final report in January 1975, concluding in it that there were shortcomings in the army’s work, and placed responsibility for the failure on the Army Chief of Staff, David Eliezer, who submitted his resignation immediately after the committee submitted its report, and the head of the Military Intelligence Service (Aman), Eli Zeira, The head of the agency's research department, Aryeh Shalev, and the commander of the southern military region in the Israeli army, Shmuel Gonen.

Although the committee exonerated the political leadership and did not hold it responsible for the failure and negligence, Prime Minister Golda Meir submitted her resignation and the resignation of her government a week after the report was published.

Kahan Commission

An official investigation committee was formed by the government on September 28, 1982, to investigate Israel’s responsibility in the Sabra and Shatila massacre during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the early 1980s.

The Israeli army, the South Lebanon Army, and the Lebanese Forces (the military wing of the Phalange Party) committed a massacre against Palestinian refugees in the Sabra and Shatila camps between September 16 and 18, 1982, in which thousands were killed.

The committee was headed by Supreme Court Chief Justice Yitzhak Kahan, and its members included Justice of the same court Aharon Barak and former Major General Yona Efrat.

The committee tried to answer the question: Could the Israeli forces that occupied the Sabra and Shatila camps have prevented the massacre?

The government set its mission to "investigate all the facts and factors related to the atrocities committed by a Lebanese Forces unit against the civilian population in the two camps."

The committee held 60 sessions during which it heard 58 witnesses. Most of the sessions were closed and some were public. It concluded - according to its final report issued on February 8, 1983 - that direct responsibility for these massacres was borne by the Lebanese Phalange.

The report explained that leaders in the Israeli army bear some responsibility indirectly, and said that Defense Minister Ariel Sharon ignored the expected risks following the assassination of the Lebanese President and Phalange Commander Bashir Gemayel, and did not take any steps to prevent the massacres.

The committee recommended that he be removed from his position at the head of the Ministry of Defense, and that he not hold this position in the future. He was dismissed and appointed as a minister without a portfolio, but he returned to assume the portfolio of trade and industry in the “National Unity Government,” then assuming the presidency of the government in 2001.

The committee accused Chief of General Staff Rafael Eitan of not giving appropriate instructions to prevent acts of revenge by the Lebanese Phalange after they entered the two camps.

She said that Prime Minister Menachem Begin at that time, his Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir, and other officials in the army and the security and intelligence services did not care about the developments of events, and did not do enough to prevent or stop the massacre when it began.

Shamgar Committee

An official investigation committee formed by the government to investigate the massacre committed inside the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron on February 25, 1994.

At dawn that day, Jewish settler Baruch Goldstein hid behind one of the columns of the Ibrahimi Mosque, and opened fire from his machine gun at the worshipers while they were prostrating, leading to the martyrdom of 29 worshipers and the wounding of 15 others.

The investigation committee was headed by Chief Justice Meir Shamgar, and its work lasted four months, during which it held 31 sessions in which it heard 106 witnesses.

The committee said in its final report that Goldstein carried out his crime alone, without coordination with any party, and even his wife did not know his intention, and that the Israeli army did not delay in transporting the injured to hospitals.

The report stated: “We do not believe that anyone can be blamed for not expecting the fact that a Jew would plan and carry out a massacre of Muslims in the Ibrahimi Mosque.”

The committee attributed the reason for the killing to the increasing friction between Palestinians and Jews in the Sanctuary, so it recommended forming a special police to guard it, preventing anyone carrying weapons from entering it, and dividing the Sanctuary between Muslims and Jews to avoid mutual friction and provocations.

In accordance with the committee’s recommendations, Israel placed electronic gates at the entrances to the Mosque, and gave the Jews the right to control about 60% of it, with the aim of Judaizing it.

The occupation closed most of the roads leading to it to Muslims, except for one gate with strict security measures.

Winograd Committee

A government examination committee established by the Israeli government to investigate the political and military performance in the Second Lebanon War of July 2006 and the events that preceded it.

This war resulted in the deaths of 157 Israelis, most of them soldiers, and 1,200 Lebanese, most of them civilians, and ended with a UN-brokered truce on August 14, 2006.

The committee was formed on September 17, 2006, headed by retired judge Eliyahu Winograd and as members of two reserve commanders in the Israeli army, Menachem Einan and Haim Nadel, and two lecturers in the field of justice and law, Ruth Gabizon and Yehezkel Dror, in order to investigate the performance of the political and military levels, and the army’s readiness to fight against Hezbollah. God is on the border with Lebanon.

On April 30, 2007, the committee published its partial report, and on January 30, 2008, one year and four months after its formation, the committee completed its duties and issued its final report.

The committee said that entering the war without developing a strategy to exit it constituted a dangerous loophole, noting that the management of the war was faltering at the political and field levels, especially at the level of the ground forces.

The committee found that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert did not act cautiously and responsibly during the war. As for Defense Minister Amir Peretz, the committee said that he did not fulfill his role as army commander, as his ignorance and lack of experience made him fail to carry out all his duties, as he did not examine the army’s plans and did not realize them. Of his readiness and readiness.

She added that Chief of Staff Dan Halutz, in turn, bears responsibility because he did not raise to the political leadership the complexity of the Lebanese arena and the great restrictions on the army’s readiness, and he acted based on his excessive confidence in the power of the Air Force.

The report held the entire government members responsible, noting that ministers voted without knowing the plans and without studying the potential consequences of their decision.

Terkel Committee

An investigation committee was formed by the Israeli government on June 14, 2010 to investigate the attack on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, which was carried out by special units in the Israeli Navy, which resulted in the killing of 10 Turkish citizens and the wounding of dozens.

The ship was part of the Freedom Flotilla heading to the Gaza Strip with the aim of breaking the siege imposed on it. It included a number of ships carrying thousands of tons of humanitarian aid and carrying hundreds of Arab and foreign activists. While it was in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea on May 31, 2010, it was attacked by forces. Israeli army.

The committee was headed by former Supreme Court Justice Yaakov Terkel, and its members included international law specialist Shabtai Rosen and retired General Amos Horev. It also included two international observers, the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize laureate David Trimble, and the Solicitor General and former judge in the Canadian Army, Major General Kenneth Watkin.

Human Rights Watch criticized this committee, saying that it is not a complete fact-finding committee that meets the conditions stipulated in Israeli law, as it cannot order the appearance of witnesses and officials in order to give statements and investigate them, and instead relies on issuing requests for documents and “summaries of the investigations.” "field", which is conducted by the Israeli army itself, to determine what the army members did or ordered during the interception of the "Freedom Flotilla."

On January 23, 2011, the committee’s final report cleared the government and the army of any wrongdoing in the military operation against the ship’s passengers, and held them responsible for the violent events. The committee said that this operation was “in accordance with international law.”

It recommended the formation of a “General Staff to investigate anomalous events,” meaning that the Terkel Commission returned the issue of investigating crimes it considered anomalous to the General Staff, which issued orders to carry out the murder.

Investigation into the "Al-Aqsa Flood"

Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy decided to launch internal investigations into all units to look into the security and intelligence failure that occurred during Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood,” which was launched by the Palestinian resistance on the settlements surrounding the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023.

On this day, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), and other Palestinian factions launched Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood” in response to the attacks by the Israeli army and settlers against the Palestinian people, especially in Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Nearly 3 months after the events, the Israeli Army Chief of Staff decided to form a security team to begin conducting an investigation into the failures of the events of last October 7, in their security, military, and intelligence aspects.

The investigation team includes a number of former security officials, including the Minister of Defense and former Army Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz, who was appointed to head the team, in addition to the former head of the Military Intelligence Division, Ze’evi Farkash, and the former commander of the Army’s Southern Command, Sami Turgeman, with each of the three in charge of investigations into the case. His field.

The investigation focuses on the performance of the Israeli army on the day of the attack and the days that followed, and the investigations include all military formations.

The government of Benjamin Netanyahu was subjected to a campaign of widespread criticism in Israeli circles due to the failure of the army and security forces to predict in advance the attack by the Palestinian factions.

Demands escalated in Israel to investigate the causes of the military and security failure that shook Israel's image, but other voices called for any investigations to be postponed until after the end of the war that began on October 7, 2023 and resulted - until February 20, 2024 - in... 29,195 Palestinians were martyred, most of them women and children.

Source: Al Jazeera + websites