It was hard to miss Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's giddiness Oct. 15 at a meeting of coalition party leaders. He was explaining to them why he is promoting the creation of a parliamentary commission of inquiry to investigate the involvement of foreign governments in funding Israeli nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and other organizations that he claims are harmful to Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops.

Netanyahu told the meeting that just as the US Congress is investigating Russian involvement in the 2016 US presidential elections, Israel should investigate whether other countries are involved in its internal politics.

His plan, as presented to the meeting, is to create this new committee as early as next week to coincide with the start of the Knesset's winter session, which officially opens Oct. 23. This caused a commotion among the Knesset's Likud members. Most of them would be thrilled to head this kind of parliamentary committee of inquiry. The very thought of summoning the heads of such groups as B'Tselem and Breaking the Silence to testify before them about their activities and sources of funding is enough to send a tingle down the spine of any Likud Knesset member. Every session they chair will receive extensive coverage in the Israeli media and even receive international attention.

It is hard to remember or even believe that just over six years ago, during Netanyahu's second term as prime minister (July 2011), he blocked a similar proposal to form a parliamentary committee of inquiry to investigate the sources of funding for left-wing NGOs. That proposal was submitted by Yisrael Beitenu Chairman Avigdor Liberman, who was then serving as foreign minister. Netanyahu announced that he would vote against it, explaining, "We don't need investigations in the Knesset. We don't need committees of inquiry."