A dramatic High Court hearing opened on Thursday morning on petitions from left-wing organizations demanding that the government be compelled to establish a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 massacre.
The hearing is yet another unprecedented attempt by Israel’s High Court to intervene in core government powers and violate the separation of powers by directly challenging government decisions. However, this time, the confrontation is over an extremely sensitive issue, with bereaved families of the October 7 victims still mourning their losses and emotions running high.
Left-wing Israelis support a state commission of hearing because it means that the members would be appointed by the far-left president of the Supreme Court, Yitzchak Amit, whose actions have been so controversial and politically biased that his decisions have even been condemned by his fellow High Court justices on numerous occasions. The government and the majority of Israelis (who elected the government) have no trust in Amit and the High Court to head an unbiased investigation.
Instead, the government is promoting a framework for a national commission of inquiry, in which representatives would be appointed by the coalition and the opposition, ensuring a politically balanced committee. But of course, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who opposes every government decision, supports a state commission of inquiry, and the High Court already signaled its intentions to actively meddle in the matter by issuing a controversial interim order to halt the State Comptroller’s investigation into the massacre, a decision that experts say is not only judicial overreach but endangers the lives of Israelis.
Additionally, as is well-known, the High Court and the judiciary system often issue controversial rulings that side with terrorists and the rights of Palestinians, which significantly affects Israel’s security. The lives of numerous Israelis, civilians and IDF soldiers, have been lost due to judicial decisions that favored the rights of terrorists over those of Israeli citizens. In fact, the majority of Israelis believe that the decisions of the High Court and the military prosecution also played a role in causing the October 7 massacre and must be investigated. How can a state commission of inquiry be headed by that same High Court?
High Court justices banned the public and bereaved families from entering the courtroom out of fears of disturbances due to their highly controversial usurpation of power, and the hearing took place under heavy security. Nonetheless, after the hearing began, a bereaved father burst into the courtroom and cried out, “The terrorists murdered our sons with the backing of the court!”
Members of bereaved families also protested outside the courthouse, and verbal clashes broke out between those who support a state commission of inquiry and those who support a national commission of inquiry.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
