Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs refused the Attorney General's demand that the government establish a committee of inquiry into the October 7th massacre.
"The establishment of a state commission of inquiry is within the exclusive authority of the government of Israel", Fuchs began his letter. "The meeting to which you referred in the opening of your letter did not deal with the establishment of a state commission of inquiry to investigate all the events of the war and what preceded it. In the meeting, the possibility of establishing a commission of inquiry was discussed only to examine the claims against Israel in the international forums regarding Israel's humanitarian policy in the Gaza Strip after the outbreak of the war."
He elaborated that "In this context, the Cabinet's legal team recommended that a state commission of inquiry be established for this purpose only, but this recommendation has not yet been brought before the cabinet ministers."
He concluded by explaining that this was not the appropriate time to establish the commission. "Israel is in the midst of an ongoing war and the time has not yet come to investigate all the related events and what preceded it."
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara on Thursday originally wrote a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which she called on him to promote the establishment of a commission of inquiry that would probe the events of October 7.
Baharav-Miara wrote to Netanyahu that forming a state commission of inquiry would combat international court cases against Israel.
"Our professional position is that a state commission of inquiry is the appropriate legal mechanism for examining issues of the scope and degree of national importance of the events of the Swords of Iron War. In the meantime, a state commission of inquiry is the best means of dealing with the current risks on the international legal level, which if realized could lead to significant harm to the interests of the country, and of course the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense personally, and perhaps even other elements," she wrote.
"This is in view of the unique characteristics of the mechanism of the state commission of inquiry, including, first and foremost, the complete disconnection from the executive authority," added Baharav-Miara.
"Any other existing mechanism does not meet the unique needs and risks that the country is currently dealing with. In general, a situation in which the executive authority is the one that appoints the mechanism that is supposed to look into its operation and the conduct of its leaders will miss the goal,” the Attorney General said.
"Given the urgency in dealing with international risks, our professional position is that the decision to establish the war event investigation committee should not be delayed, and it should be established as soon as possible," she wrote.