Government minister Benny Gantz, chairman of the National Unity party, announced Thursday evening that he will soon submit a proposal for the establishment of a state commission of inquiry. The announcement comes after reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received four different warning letters from the IDF's intelligence division in the months between March and July 2023 that "Israel's enemies" planned to take advantage of judicial overhaul crisis and launch an attack.
The Prime Minister's Office said in a statement that "Not only was there no warning of any kind about a Hamas intention to attack Israel from Gaza, but a completely opposite assessment was provided."
"Nearly eight months have passed since the greatest disaster in the country," Gantz said in a video message.
“We’ve all seen the difficult video of the kidnapping in Nahal Oz, we’ve all seen the public debate about whether or not warning was given to the prime minister. There is no doubt, the period and the events leading up to October 7, and the continuation of the campaign since then, are a national upheaval that we must learn from,” Gantz, a member of the war cabinet said. "This is the right action for the continued functioning of the state, and it will also help us with the international legal challenges that lie before us."
A state investigation committee is an independent body established for the purpose of investigating a specific matter and drawing conclusions. It is entitled to make recommendations on a matter of public importance. It has a quasi-legal nature and therefore carries a lot of weight.
The IDF confirmed on Thursday afternoon, in an official response to a Freedom of Information request submitted by the Hatzlacha (Success) nonprofit association, that the prime minister received four different warning letters from the IDF's Intelligence Division in the months between March 2023 and July 2023. In the letters themselves, whose existence was reported in Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth as early as last July, Netanyahu was warned of the weakening of Israeli deterrence following the terrible damage to social cohesion in Israel, including threats by thousands of IDF soldiers that they would not show up for duty.
The IDF did not release the content of the letters sent to Netanyahu, but the prime minister revealed some of the information in a statement issued on Thursday evening by his office.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu consults with IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi
(Photo: Amos Ben Gershon, GPO)
According to the statement: "Two references to Hamas in four intelligence documents point out that Hamas did not want to attack Israel from Gaza and that it favored a peaceful arrangement. The first reference, from March 19, 2023, notes that Hamas' strategy is "leaving Gaza on the back burner" and focusing attacks against Israel from other arenas. The second reference from May 31, 2023 recommended that Israel join the 'regional de-escalation trend' and 'take a step forward toward a peaceful arrangement with the Gaza Strip and the Hamas sovereign'."
The statement added that: All of the security bodies consistently supported these assessments that Hamas was not interested in escalation but in an arrangement with Israel and that Hamas was deterred."
The Prime Minister's Office also noted that that Netanyahu himself warned about the danger of the lack of cohesion in Israel when speaking about those who refuse to serve in the military.
"Yet Prime Minister Netanyahu was accurate when he warned Israel’s enemies that on the day of reckoning ,the internal debate will not impair our determination and strength to strike them whenever necessary'," the statement concluded.