Eisenkot's Jaschar party used the new Knesset's first sitting to seek a state inquiry commission into possible failures by Israeli authorities before Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack. The move turns a long-running argument over accountability into a specific parliamentary action, but it does not settle either the inquiry or Israel's coalition deadlock.
According to Der Spiegel, Jaschar and its allies filed the request on Tuesday after members of the 26th Knesset were sworn in. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously rejected a state inquiry commission into the attack, denied wrongdoing and proposed a different investigative body whose members would be appointed by politicians from different parties. The dispute is therefore also about who would shape an investigation.
The request raises the political cost of avoiding the issue, yet it does not establish a commission or define one. The supplied report does not say that parliament has approved the proposal, nor does it set out a mandate, membership or timetable for any future body. Filing an inquiry request is a parliamentary step, not its outcome.
It also does not solve Gadi Eisenkot's immediate task of assembling a government. President Isaac Herzog assigned him the task on Sunday after neither Eisenkot's opposition bloc nor Netanyahu's right-religious camp secured a majority in the election. Der Spiegel reports that Eisenkot has 28 days to win the backing of 61 Knesset members, with a possible 14-day extension. Netanyahu has again called for a national-unity government led by himself.
That makes the application important without making it decisive. It places accountability for the period before October 7 at the center of the new parliament's work. But the coalition arithmetic that will determine whether Eisenkot can govern remains separate and unresolved.
Sources
- Der Spiegel · Source date: 2026-11-10
Independent editorial content. WUA is not affiliated with any political party. 2026-11-11