A supreme court panel of three judges, headed by newly appointed court President Dorit Beinish issued the order, demanding the government explain why the cabinet-appointed Winograd Commission was created to investigate government management of the war, instead of an independent State commission of inquiry.
The Supreme Court issued its ruling following petitions by two government watchdog agencies, the Movement for Quality Government and Ometz.
The order calls for the government to explain the authority of a hand-selected committee to probe an issue of “general national significance.” Furthermore, the order questions whether there is a conflict of interest for a government appointed panel to investigate the very same officials who appointed the committee.
The Winograd Commission, as the current government appointed committee is named, has already begun its investigation by meeting with leaders of the political and military echelon. The commission says it will continue despite calls to halt its investigation, pending the response of the government to the court order and the court’s subsequent ruling.
The Movement for Quality of Government has called upon the Supreme Court to dissolve the Winograd Commission, claiming that the formation of a self-appointed government commission into the war is illegal.
The Prime Minister’s Office claims that the establishment of the commission is completely within all legal boundaries. One official in the office stated, “The government has made the decision to establish the committee according to the law and there is no way in the world to rule that this process is illegal.”
Thursday, State Attorney General Menachem Mazuz ordered the dismissal of the committee’s secretary, Menachem Ben-Chaim, due to his role as a Kadima party activist on behalf of Ehud Olmert in the most recent national election.
Ben-Chaim is not the first member to leave the committee due to a conflict of interest. The selection of impartial committee members is believed by many across the legal spectrum to constitute inappropriate political appointments.
Meanwhile, State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss is currently conducting his own investigation into the handling of the war in Lebanon.
Headed by director-general of the comptroller’s office, Shlomo Gur, a team of 50 has been examining the events of the war since just after the conflict ended. The team will consider questioning anyone across the political and military echelons, including the Prime Minister and Defense Minister Amir Peretz.
“I don’t rule out the possibility that if we need explanations, we’ll approach everyone,” Lindenstrauss said.
Lindenstrauss is expected to submit an interim report shortly to the Knesset State Control Committee on his findings.
Many legislators want to use the report to help establish an official state commission of inquiry, similar to the commission which helped topple the government following the investigation of the Yom Kippur War of 1973.
The recent thirty-four day conflict with Hizbullah in Lebanon following the kidnapping of IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, resulted in the killing of 100 Israelis including 44 civilians, and the firing of over 4,000 katyusha rockets into northern Israel. An estimated 2 million Israelis were forced to spend most of the conflict in underground bomb shelters.