In theory, such an effort would be nonpartisan and inspire across-the-board respect. Yet the notion that this objective can be achieved in Israel’s current political environment is a forlorn hope, and there’s no use pretending otherwise. At a time when the country’s politics is largely defined by opinions either for and against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the idea that there is any such thing as an impartial panel, let alone one chosen and/or directed by the country’s judicial establishment that is locked in a bitter battle with him, is simply absurd.

An impartial commission?

That’s the context for the controversy over the Israeli government’s decision to attempt to circumvent the Commissions of Inquiry law, passed in 1968. It set up a mechanism for investigations into matters of public concern and state interest, such as those that delved into the failure of the government led by the late Golda Meir to anticipate the surprise Egyptian and Syrian attacks that began the October 1973 Yom Kippur War, or the responsibility for the 1982...

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