Comptroller Englman: "It is inconceivable that the government is not immediately harnessing itself to rehabilitate the north and in particular the localities adjacent to the fence, we must not wait until the state budget has been approved"
State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman and senior staff members from his office toured today (Sunday, 8.12.24) in Metulla, together with the Council Head David Azulay, and in the Ma'ale Yosef Regional Council localities – Zar'it and Shtula, with the Council Head Shimon Guetta. During the tour the Comptroller visited the homes and the school that had been hit and ruined by the Hezbollah attacks, and by other damage. The Comptroller heard the complaints of the council heads concerning the lack of an appropriate response from some of the government ministries and the fact that the residents are not receiving any compensation for the damages they have incurred as a result of the families not living in their homes for a long period, such as electricity and water outages and rats' gnawing, which, according to the council heads, sometimes causes much more destruction than the damage from the Hezbollah missiles.
Comptroller Englman on a tour of the north
According to Comptroller Englman: "We have visited homes that have incurred a direct hit, and they are just a few out of the hundreds of homes that were damaged, in particular in the localities adjacent to the fence.
My office is already examining the activity of the administrations in the north and south. From here I am calling upon the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Defense and Minister Elkin – it is inconceivable that the local authorities have still not received the rehabilitation budgets.
We are exposed to the beautiful Land of Israel, to the volunteers on the streets, but as we have already seen at the beginning of the war – this is a wake-up call to the Ministry of Finance. At this time, it is important to allocate budgets in order to start to rehabilitate the homes and allow the population to return home. It is moving to see the volunteers, but it is inconceivable that the government is not here and is not contributing to this matter, and the sooner the better. Waiting for the budget to be approved sometime in January – takes us back to the situation at the beginning of the war: Budgets arriving late and not allowing a speedily as possible return to routine.
I am grateful to the heads of the councils and to the residents for all their activity, their Zionism and their establishment of a foothold. You are setting a shining example to all Israeli citizens. The government must harness itself as soon as possible and assist in the rehabilitation".
