Israel Begins Inquiry Into Botched Attack

Investigators launched a government inquiry at a secret location Sunday into Israel’s bungled attempt to kill a leader of the Islamic militant group Hamas in Jordan, an Israeli spokesman said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, having reportedly ordered Mossad secret agents to assassinate Hamas political chief Khaled Meshaal last month, appointed a three-man “clarification committee” last week to investigate the affair.

Spokesman Moshe Fogel said the committee--headed by a former Defense Ministry legal advisor and also including a former police chief and former air force chief--was taking testimony at an undisclosed security installation.

Netanyahu has come under sharp attack for leaving many top officials in the dark about the planned attack, which occurred Sept. 25.

Mossad head Danny Yatom was the first to testify Sunday, media reports said. Israel’s Channel 2 TV said he told the panel that his colleagues had been fully informed.

Also Sunday, a spokeswoman said an internal inquiry had been launched after jailers neglected for three days to bring food to Yitzhak Rabin’s convicted killer during the Jewish New Year holiday.

Yigal Amir, serving a life sentence for gunning down the prime minister in 1995 to thwart peacemaking with the Arabs, is held in solitary confinement at a maximum security prison in southern Israel.

“It was a misunderstanding. The regular wardens [guards] were off duty for the holiday, and their replacements each thought the other had brought food to his cell,” Prison Authority spokeswoman Orit Messer-Harel said.