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The "Agranat Commission" Report

​​​​The "Agranat commission" published three reports

  1. 1. The first "Interim" report was published in 1/4/1974. It contained a concise description of the facts; some personal recommendations regarding senior IDF officers and the political echelon's responsibility: the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense; institutional recommendations regarding the division of responsibilities and authorities between the political leadership and the military high command; the conduct of the Government and the Intelligence Community. (The report is not published on the internet site, it can be scrutinized at the IDF and Defense Establishment Archive's reading room).

  2. 2. "A second interim report," containing the reasons for the conclusions of the first report was submitted to the Government on 1/7/1975.

  3. 3. The third and last report was finalized on 28/01/1974, and submitted by the commission to the government and to the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of the Knesset. The report ratified the commission's conclusion as submitted in the first and second reports. The third report dealt only with specific aspects and events of the war, because the commission's members reached a conclusion that they are not qualified to scrutinize the whole war.

The repercussions of the Agranat Report

The Agranat Commission conclusions shook the very foundations of the state, not less than the war itself, forcing changes in the military and political echelons, and raising a public storm, due the fact the most of the blame was cast upon the military. Among the ramifications were:

  • The Golda Meir Government's resignation in April 1974, and the establishment of a new government headed by Yitzhak Rabin, with Shimon Peres as Minister of Defense;

  • The Resignation of the IDF's Chief of Staff, David Elazar, and the appointment of Mordechai (Mota) Gur in his place;

  • The dismissal of several other senior IDF officers;

  • A massive reconstruction of the IDF;

  • Legal and Intelligence consequences.

The publication of the Agranat Report

Since its submission, the report emerged again and again in association with the conduct of the war. Time after time, disputes regarding various facts associated with the war, raised the demand to publish the report's classified parts, among, inter alia, politicians, public figures, and former military figures. In April 1994, following a petition to the High Court of Justice demanding a publication of the report, the Government decided to allow scrutinizing of it with limiting conditions (non-disclosure of alertness and intelligence issues, privacy, etc.). In addition, the decree allowed scrutinizing of the report, barring the commission's preparations and protocols. The exposure work was done by the field security branch of the General Staff and was carried at the IDF and Defense Establishment Archive, which allocated the necessary resources. The report was made public on 1/1/1995. The "Agranat Commission Report" is seven volumes long, including the three original reports. According to the Government decision 3317, from 27/2/2005, in the framework of the "Commissions of Enquiries Law" amendment 5, 2005, a public commission was appointed, composed of former high court justice, Prof' Yitzhak Engelard (Chair Person), Mr. Moshe Vardi, and Mr. Benyamin Amidror (henceforth "The Engelard Commission), to examine the disclosure of the Agranat Commission's materials, stored in the IDF and Defense Establishment Archive. The commission inspected the final report's classified parts, and after hearing all the relevant entities decided, approved the disclosure of the entire final report, barring some section whose disclosure may still harm the state security or its foreign relations. The entire report was disclosed in 2006.

The Engelrad Commission continued examining additional materials of the Agranat Commission pre-disclosure of the commission's protocols. The IDF and Defense Establishment Archive was in charge of the actual disclosure. Up to date, the commission approved disclosure of 50 testimonies from the Agranat Commission protocols, and its work is still in progress.

As of February 2012, the Agranat Commission reports are open to the public in the IDF AND DEFENSE ESTABLISHMENT ARCHIV​E'S website.

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