In the Oval Office, during a Q and A session, Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy asked US President Donald Trump about the status of the investigation into the assassination attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024.
Trump responded by further expanding the question. The president said, what about the other guy with all the cellphones at the golf course on September 15, 2024?
In his inimitable way, Trump went on to explain that this is not on Biden. This, he said, is on me.
Obviously, Trump is correct. Until January 20, Joe Biden was president of the United States, and the information, or lack of information, on the attempts on Trump’s life was Biden’s responsibility. And yet, even under his own presidency, getting answers to these vexing questions about the two assassination attempts on his life still are unanswered. Even Trump – the target and now president – has not found out the answers he is seeking. President Trump, the person ultimately in charge of all the investigations, the boss of all people investigating these assassination attempts, does not have answers.
Investigation commissions and committees are notoriously poor at discovering real answers and real reasons. They are notorious for dragging their feet, especially when the people conducting the investigations are not interested in finding the answers, and even more so when those same people have a vested interest in ambiguous findings.
The President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy – or as it is more commonly known, the Warren Commission, is a perfect example.
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963. The Warren Commission was created one week later, on November 29. From the very outset, members were divided on whether to have a committee investigation and make the report public. The argument was that releasing their findings to the public would create more controversy than consensus.
According to the 888-page report issued on September 24, 1964, 10 months later, to then-president Lyndon B. Johnson, Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald, and Oswald acted alone. Two days later Jack Ruby assassinated Oswald, and it was determined that he, too, acted alone.
Since then, there have been countless theories and more emerging evidence both supporting and contradicting the commission’s findings. One thing is for certain: the answers are few and the questions are many. And that’s because the investigators were not invested in finding and publicizing answers. Actually, quite the opposite!
These many years and many presidents later, Donald Trump has now promised to make public the files from the JFK assassination and the investigation. He wants to get to the truth – or at least get closer to the truth.
This is not an easy task – but it does explain, in large part, what is happening, right now, in Israel.
Independent investigation also a moral imperative
AN INDEPENDENT investigation into the reasons for the failures that led to the darkest day in modern Jewish history, October 7, 2023, is essential. It is not only a moral imperative, it is also strategically essential from the point of view of security. Another October 7 must never, ever, be allowed to happen again.
The IDF’s investigation of itself was, to put it bluntly, a joke. The statements by now former IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevi ring hollow, that “the responsibility is mine. I was the commander of the army on October 7, and I have my responsibilities. I see every soldier who made a mistake as also part of my responsibility.... Since October 7 – Simchat Torah – I make it a point, several times a day, to confront failure directly. We have soldiers who fought heroically, we heard the voices on the radio during the inquiries. We have female soldiers who continuously reported with professionalism and calm until the last moment. This is the IDF.”
He spoke eloquently, he spoke the truth, but he was hardly assuming responsibility. They were simply empty words, as evidenced by the staggering numbers included in the IDF report: 5,500 terrorists crossed the border and broke into Israel from Gaza; terrorists broke through 114 gaps; they used 57 drones; they used seven boats; they used six paragliders; they shot 3,889 rockets and mortars. That is what Hamas did – but the question of how it was allowed to happen remains open and gaping.
Israel needs an independent investigation with full cooperation from military and intelligence leadership. The investigation needs full access to all data. Israelis deserve no less.
No one, no entity, can investigate themselves and be considered credible. State Comptroller and Ombudsman Matanyahu Englman’s office would be the ideal body to independently investigate the many lapses that led to the horrors perpetrated on October 7.
Englman has said that the IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) have obstructed a full investigation into October 7. Englman has said that without full cooperation from both security bodies, a comprehensive investigation cannot be conducted. Englman has urged Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara to force the IDF and security leadership to cooperate.
Englman is correct.
The critical point to remember here is that responsibility and complete unfettered investigations are essential not in order to prosecute criminal actions or inactions; they are necessary because they are the only way to instill public confidence in the IDF and the security services and the findings of the investigation.
Leaders who made mistakes need to be held accountable. Citizens, families, the country, and lovers of Israel need to know that the lives of Israeli citizens have value.
That lesson can only be taught after an honest investigation.
The writer is a columnist and a social and political commentator. Watch his TV show Thinking Out Loud on JBS.