Israel admission on white phosphorus doesn't settle larger debate

In its response to the Goldstone report, Israel revealed that two senior military officers have been reprimanded for using white phosphorus in Gaza. But that doesn't settle the larger debate over launching an independent commission.

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However, the issue of whether Israel ought to form such a commission – that is, one that would be run by impartial investigators or judges not affiliated with the military – is still hotly debated.

Netanyahu said to be considering independent commission

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has come out in favor of holding a commission of inquiry, as has Israel’s justice minister and its deputy prime minister, Dan Meridor. And in recent days Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been quoted in various media as considering the formation of such a commission because without it, Israel may not be able to clear its name in the eyes of the international community.

“My deliberation pertains to setting up an external and independent investigative body, but I don’t want officers and soldiers to get into a situation where they have to retain an attorney,” Mr. Netanyahu said Sunday at a meeting of Likud party ministers, according to the Maariv newspaper.

"We have about a week to make a decision,” Netanyahu was quoted as saying. “We have three options: an investigative team, an investigative committee determined by the government, or a commission of inquiry determined by the Supreme Court.”

An observer who was in the meeting confirmed to the Monitor that Netanyahu was deliberating over the issue and had sought others’ opinions on the matter.

Doubt that commission would improve Israel's image

Many other voices in Israel, however, reject the concept of calling for an independent commission. They argue that when Israel went that route before it didn’t necessarily lift the pressure from the international community.

“The Sabra and Shatilla commission was very public and that didn’t stop Belgian litigants from trying to try Ariel Sharon,” says Avi Bell, a professor of law at Bar-Ilan University near Tel Aviv, referring to the Kahan Commission, in which Israel investigated the killings of hundreds of Palestinians at refugee camps during the Lebanon war in 1982.

“I think appointing a commission is pointless, especially where other bodies, which are already in place to do investigations, exist, and that’s the reason the army opposes it. Once you appoint these commissions, there’s a political dynamic that forces them to find someone guilty. Otherwise, it looks like a whitewash.”

Gidi Grinstein, the head of the Reut Institute, a Tel Aviv-based policy group, says he supports the formation of some kind of commission. But it's logical, he adds, that the army doesn’t. Its way of operating until now has encouraged soldiers and officers to be honest in investigations without fear of repercussion, he says.

“It sounds like a paradox, but in the long term, if officers and soldiers will be interrogated by external bodies in a nonsupportive environment, there will be a much stronger tendency to conceal evidence,” he says. “This could break the culture of debriefing, which is a real strength of the Israeli army. And the moment this is broken, interviewees will have very powerful incentive to protect themselves.”