The establishment of the Agranat Commission
The Yom Kippur war broke on October 6, 1973 at 14:00, when enemy forces attacked the IDA on two fronts simultaneously, the Syrian and Egyptian. Israel's leadership was surprised: the political echelon: Prime Minister Golda Meir and her ministers headed by Moshe Dayan; the Military echelon, Chief of Staff David Elazar and the General Staff. Initially the IDF was forced to repulse much stronger forces in extremely difficult situations. On October 8, 1973, a counteroffensive began, but the enemy was only repelled on October 15 following the crossing of the Suez Canal.
Even though the war ended on October 24, 1973 with Israel gaining the upper hands on both fronts, our loses (as well as the enemy's) were unbearable: 2,689 dead, 7,251 wounded, 301 prisoners of war and 16 missing in action.
Not only the many casualties, but the news reaching the rear from the front, and the accusations among senior IDF officers, left a very heavy feeling in the nation. As more soldiers were demobilized from reserve service, and told their horror stories, a public outcry arose in a demand to establish a commission to investigate what became known as the "Failure" of the Yom Kippur War. On November 18, 1973 the government decided, subject to its authority in the Commissions of Inquiry Law, 1968, to establish a national inquiry commission to investigate the IDF's function during the Yom Kippur War. The Commission members were asked to examine the following: The intelligence available from before the war on the intentions of Syria and Egypt; the analysis of the intelligence by the authorized civilian and military units; the general preparedness of the IDF to fight, especially on the date of October 5th 1973, the day prior to the outbreak of the war.
The committee chairman was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Dr. Shimon Agranat and its members were: Supreme Court Justice Moshe Landoy; State Comptroller Yitzhak Neventzal; Lieutenant General (Res.) Prof. Yigael Yadin; and Soldiers' Ombudsman, Lieutenant General (Res.) Haim Laskov.
The commission's final report was presented on January 30, 1975. It contained more than 1,500 pages, but only its introduction was made public. Following a government decision all materials of the commission's work were transferred to the IDFA.
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To the Agranat Commission testimonies