close
close

No talks with Netanyahu about investigative committee – Lapid denies involvement

Former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid. (Photo: Courtesy of the Israeli Presidential Spokesperson’s Office, via Wikimedia Commons)

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid denied any talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about forming an official investigative committee into the events of October 7, 2023.

“According to all who have asked, there are no contacts with Netanyahu regarding the creation of a state investigative committee,” Lapid wrote on X on Sunday.

“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.

Lapid also stressed: “I will not take part in any games. We need an investigative commission and it should be set up immediately.”

Meanwhile, Israel’s Army Radio reported that Netanyahu was trying to work with the opposition to select members for the investigative committee into the failure of the October 7 assassination attempt.

“Betrayal of the army” – Lapid claims Netanyahu is undermining national security

“Netanyahu’s aim behind this is to prevent the president of the Supreme Court, Israel’s highest judicial body, from selecting the members of the investigative committee and to ensure that no judge from the same court is selected as a member of the committee,” the report said.

Unlike the Israeli military leadership and political decision-makers, Netanyahu has so far not taken responsibility for failing to foresee the attack by Palestinian resistance fighters on October 7.

Netanyahu has repeatedly stressed that an official commission of inquiry into these attacks should only be set up after the end of the war.

Nevertheless, families of Israeli prisoners and soldiers killed in the war filed a petition with the Supreme Court on Thursday calling on the government to set up an official commission of inquiry.

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

Survey: Shockingly many Israelis are considering leaving the country

Ongoing genocide

Israel, which is currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against the Palestinians, has been waging a devastating war against Gaza since October 7.

According to the Gaza Strip Ministry of Health, 37,877 Palestinians were killed and 86,969 injured in Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip, which began on October 7.

In addition, at least 7,000 people are missing and are believed to be lying dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian and international organizations say the majority of the dead and injured are women and children.

GAZA LIVE BLOG: Devastation in Shejaiya | Third phase of the war | Five Israeli soldiers wounded – Day 268

The Israeli war led to an acute famine, especially in the north of the Gaza Strip, and caused the deaths of many Palestinians, especially children.

The Israeli aggression also resulted in the forced displacement of nearly two million people from across the Gaza Strip. The vast majority of those displaced were forced to the densely populated southern city of Rafah, near the Egyptian border. It was the largest mass exodus from Palestine since the Nakba of 1948.

According to Israel, 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the flood relief operation in Al-Aqsa on October 7. Israeli media reported that many Israelis were killed by friendly fire that day.

(PC, Anadolu)