Israel must first defeat Hamas and only then investigate the events leading up to the October 7 Hamas massacre, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in the Knesset plenum on Wednesday during a special debate.
The prime minister demonstrated his point by telling a story about Napoleon Bonaparte, who was forced to divulge sensitive information to an investigative committee, and the information allegedly led to his downfall at Waterloo. Netanyahu argued that security and political officials should focus first on winning the war and only then turn to investigations.
The debate, known as a “40 signatures debate” since the request to hold it requires a minimum of 40 MKs, is the Israeli version of UK’s Prime Minister’s Questions. It includes a series of short speeches by MKs, and then responses by the prime minister and opposition leader, both of whom are required to attend.
Netanyahu’s comment came in response to questions by MKs over why he had not formed a National Committee of Inquiry, and members of the opposition criticized his response.
Opposition leader MK Yair Lapid argued that the real reason the prime minister has yet to form a committee was because Netanyahu knew that he would be found responsible for the policies that enabled Hamas to increase its power and eventually carry out the attack.
Lapid said, according to Israeli media, “You are not a victim, and if it’s hard for you, you are welcome to resign.”
National Unity chairman MK Benny Gantz, who joined the war cabinet alongside Netanyahu at the war’s outbreak and left the government in June, wrote on X, formerly Twitter:
‘Why did you delay the entry into Khan Yunis, Rafah?’
“Mr. Prime Minister, you were afraid to enter a maneuver [in Gaza]. You hesitated to enter Khan Yunis. You hesitated to enter Rafah. You spoke about Rafah for campaign purposes, while we insisted on first taking the Philadelphi road [on the Egypt-Gaza border] and preventing Hamas’ rearming.”
Gantz continued, “Everything will be revealed when the protocols and testimonies will be heard in a National Committee of Investigation, which must ask the question – why did you delay the entry into Khan Younis and Rafah? Why were you afraid, you delayed, you hesitated? And what was the price we paid and are still paying for it?”
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