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Culture Minister Miki Zohar on Thursday declared that anybody who believes that an investigation into the October 7, 2023, massacre would point to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the main person responsible for the government’s failures is “living in a dream world.”
Zohar’s comments come a day after the coalition advanced a bill to create a controversial, politically appointed commission of inquiry into the failures surrounding the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack. The scope of that inquiry is being set by a committee headed by Netanyahu, and its critics say it is an effort by the premier and his government to deflect blame for a massacre that happened on their watch.
But Zohar rejected that notion in an interview with the Walla news site. He argued that politicians across multiple governments share responsibility for the circumstances surrounding the attack.
“Anyone who thinks a commission would conclude that the main culprit is Netanyahu is living in a dream world,” he said. “This is a complex methodological event that goes back decades. All Israeli citizens were complacent; we were all in a euphoria.”
He added that the proposed investigative panel would also look into the actions of “previous governments” and opposition politicians, such as “Naftali Bennett, Yair Lapid, Benny Gantz, Avigdor Liberman — as well as security bodies, including the Shin Bet.”
Bennett and Lapid formed and led the government that unseated Netanyahu for roughly a year and a half in 2021 and 2022, the only time he has been out of power since 2009. Gantz and Liberman both served in that government.
Polls show that most Israelis support investigating the October 7 attack through a state commission of inquiry, the country’s highest investigative authority and one that has been used to probe previous tragedies and debacles.
Zohar is one of several Likud ministers who previously supported establishing a state commission of inquiry but have now changed their views. Coalition lawmakers claim such a commission would be biased because its members would be chosen by High Court President Isaac Amit, in the wake of the government’s years-long effort to weaken the judiciary he heads.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin also fought unsuccessfully earlier this year and last to prevent Amit from assuming the presidency of the High Court.
The coalition has blocked legislative efforts to establish a state commission. Wednesday’s vote advancing the politically appointed inquiry instead drew heated protests and condemnations from opposition lawmakers and bereaved families.
Netanyahu has said the investigation must stretch back decades, examining the 1993 Oslo Accords, the 2005 Disengagement from Gaza, and the protest movement against the government’s judicial overhaul agenda, which began in 2023.
Speaking to Walla, Zohar also defended senior aides to Netanyahu implicated in the Qatargate probe.
The suspects, Netanyahu aide Jonatan Urich and former spokesman Eli Feldstein, are alleged to have worked for a pro-Qatar lobbying firm and promoted messaging from Doha while in the premier’s employ.
Zohar claimed that their actions were “immoral” but not necessarily criminal and argued that the prime minister’s critics are “trying to find something connected” to him. He also defended Urich.
“From my acquaintance with Urich, he is a good person. It’s possible he got caught up in a situation. I’m not sure he knew exactly the nature of the client. He knew who he was representing, but not the significance that would result from it,” Zohar told Walla. “Urich’s intentions were certainly not negative.”
The comments come in stark contrast to those of some other coalition members — Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli, Likud MK Eli Dallal, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich — who, over the past few days, have insisted the allegations must be investigated.
Those calls came in the wake of an explosive multi-part interview with Feldstein that aired on the Kan public broadcaster, in which he discussed the Qatargate allegations. He also alleged that Netanyahu was behind the leak of classified intelligence to the German daily Bild to sway Israeli public opinion regarding ongoing hostage negotiations last year.
Netanyahu’s office has denied Feldstein’s allegations.
Ariela Karmel contributed to this report.
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