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Knesset to debate controversial leaked report on 2014 Gaza conflict
The Knesset will convene for a special session to debate a draft version of the State Comptroller’s report into the conduct of Israel’s leadership during Operation Protective Edge in summer 2014, which was leaked to the media last week.
The report is said to be especially critical of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon and then IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz. In particular, the report suggests their failure to adequately consult with the security cabinet as the operation unfolded, and indicates that they did not take seriously enough the threat of Hamas’ underground network of attack tunnels.
Unnamed associates close to Netanyahu and Ya’alon have condemned the apparent findings of the report. Sources say Netanyahu believes it is politically motivated by opponents, while a source linked to Ya’alon said: “Whoever wrote it does not understand what a decision-making system is and how the cabinet works.”
Netanyahu, Ya’alon and all those in the security cabinet at the time received the State Comptroller’s draft report on Tuesday, but by the end of the week Haaretz had already published some of its findings. Likud’s Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz, who was part of the security cabinet in 2014, played down the report, telling Channel Two: “There is a great divide between the report and the drama made of it.” However, Zionist Union MK Itzik Shmuli told Channel Ten: “If the serious issues that have been published also appear in the final report, the establishment of a commission of inquiry is inevitable.”
Opposition party Meretz has collected enough signatures from MKs to force a special debate on the issue in the Knesset plenum during the current spring recess. Meretz leader Zahava Galon commented that the report showed “a bunch of losers is running this country.” Meanwhile, State Comptroller Josef Shapira has asked the Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to order an investigation into the leak itself, writing in a letter that “the publication of classified material is an offence in itself.”