In a conversation with journalist Nahum Barnea on the stage of Yedioth Ahronoth and Ynet’s "People of the Nation" Conference, State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman stated: “There must be an audit of the failures, and it is only right that the citizens of Israel receive answers from an objective, independent, and nonpartisan body. I am accountable solely to the citizens of Israel.”
During a conversation with journalist Nahum Barnea at Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth’s “People of the Nation” Conference (April 7, 2025), State Comptroller and Ombudsman Matanyahu Englman addressed in detail the audit of the October 7 failures and the Swords of Iron War.
“Already in the first week of the war, I internalized the understanding that the State Comptroller’s audit must address the broad failures of October 7,” said the Comptroller. “I understood that my role at this time was to go out into the field and focus first on the home front and care of the civilian population. As a result of the field visits conducted by me, I sent a detailed letter to the Prime Minister as early as November 2023 outlining failures on the home front.”
Comptroller Englman and Nahum Barnea at the “People of the Nation” Conference
The Comptroller stressed that the audit is being conducted across all levels – the political, military, and civilian echelons: “We are already a year and a half past October 7. There must be an audit of the failures, and the citizens of Israel deserve answers from an objective, independent, and nonpartisan authority. I am accountable solely to the citizens of Israel.”
In February 2025, the State Comptroller published the first five audit reports related to the Swords of Iron War, focusing on various aspects of the government’s treatment of the civilian population. The reports examined mental health care, the operation of resilience centers in frontline communities, the regulation of assistance to victims of terrorism, the organization and deployment of local emergency response teams before and at the outset of the war — and the rehabilitation of communities in the western Negev.
“Roughly 200 audit managers in my office are examining all parties – the political echelon, the military echelon, and the civilian echelon. I would have liked to already present more audit reports to the public,” said Comptroller Englman. “Unfortunately, we were denied access to audit the IDF and the Shin Bet for more than a year.”
The State Comptroller also referred to the upcoming audit report on the parties held in Re'im on October 7: “Our report on this matter will differ from the IDF’s internal investigation, because the army only examined itself, whereas we are conducting a state-level audit: we are examining the local authorities that issued the permits for the events, the police, collecting testimonies from a range of parties, and also assessing how the military functioned. Only now, as part of understandings with the incoming Chief of Staff, are we examining the issue of security at the Nova Festival. This report includes extremely serious findings, including the identification of those responsible for the various failures.”
