Assessing the Credibility of Commissions of Inquiry: A Panel Study of Israeli Public Opinion.

This paper composes part of a broader project in which we examine the role that Commissions of Investigation (CIs) play in Israeli democracy. Specifically, this paper studies the dynamics of public opinion regarding the 2nd Lebanon War (July-August 2006) and responsibility attribution pertaining to the decision to go to was, and its management, in the presence of a national commission of inquiry appointment and later - its report. The study relies on an original questionnaire administered to a representative sample of the Israeli population (N = 1001) shortly after the end of the war, and a second wave of the questionnaire administered shortly after the commission's report was published (N = 500). The study focuses on changes in public attitudes following the publication of the CI's report, and tests a number of social and legal assumptions regarding the factors that determine the public credibility of a commissions' report. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]