The government argued Sunday that the High Court of Justice has no authority to order it to establish a state commission of inquiry into failures surrounding the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, responding to civil society groups who have petitioned the court to do so.

The government asserted that the 1969 Law for Commissions of Inquiry explicitly gives the government, and no other body, including the court, the authority to establish such inquiries, and cited a 2021 decision by the court to back its argument.

In 2024, the Movement for Quality Government and other civil society groups asked the High Court to order the government to establish a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 attack. Such a commission is Israel’s highest investigative authority.

The High Court issued a conditional order against the government on November 19, 2025, asking it to explain why it was not establishing a state commission.

The government, in its response, wrote: “The authority in this matter belongs to the government and not to any other entity, and this honorable court has ruled in the clearest terms that ‘the establishment of a state committee of inquiry is a matter for the government to answer, not for the court.’”

“It should be said even now that making........

© The Times of Israel