Watch and Read Scott Abramson and Haviv Rettig Gur Discuss Israeli Commissions of Inquiry and October 7

Why did Israel’s intelligence agencies fail to prepare for the attacks of October 7? Why were warnings ignored? Why didn’t the defensive measures in place work? Could the IDF have responded more quickly, and more effectively, once disaster struck? And how did the political and military establishment convince itself that Hamas was deterred in the first place?

These questions have plagued Israelis, and many others, since October 7. For much of its history, the country has sought answers by convening an official commission of inquiry. As Scott Abramson explains in Mosaic’s feature essay this month, commissions of inquiry have a unique status in the Israeli political system, and have been alternately described as a fourth branch of government and as a ritual for the expurgation of collective trauma.

But will Israel’s polarized political climate prevent an October 7 commission from convening? If there is a commission, when will it be convened and what precise form will it take? Could it find answers to the burning questions on Israelis’ minds? And will it really be able to win the trust of a deeply divided society, and help it heal and learn lessons from one of its greatest national calamities?