From evacuating TAAS industrial plants to expanding access to higher education for the Haredi community – on May 6, 2025, the State Comptroller released the annual report covering a wide range of topics: “The reports contain serious deficiencies that must be promptly addressed.”
State Comptroller and Ombudsman Matanyahu Englman published the Annual Report on May 6, 2025, addressing a variety of topics. “The reports we are releasing today include significant and serious deficiencies that the Prime Minister and the government must address without delay,” said Comptroller Englman.
- Evacuation and rehabilitation of TAAS (Israel Military Industries) lands
- Information systems and cybersecurity in the municipal elections
- Information security and cyber resilience at the Israel Land Authority – resilience audit findings
- The financial statements of the State of Israel as of 31.12.2023 – Government capital funds
- Public service aspects at the Israel Land Authority – follow-up audit
- Government preparedness for integrating the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into its work
- Protection against flood damage – follow-up audit
- Aspects of human resource management at the Central Elections Committee
- Accessibility of higher education for the Haredi community – follow-up audit
The Israel Military Industries (IMI) facilities span approximately 80,000 dunams (8,000 hectares / 20,000 acres) of land leased to the company by the state. However, many of these plants, which manufacture ammunition and explosives, are located near residential neighborhoods. Following a series of incidents involving explosions of unexploded ordnance and explosive materials, some of which resulted in fatalities, the state committed to evacuating the plants and decontaminating the land and seawater polluted over the years by their operations. In his newly published report, the State Comptroller warns that the evacuation and cleanup of IMI lands are still far from complete. “For decades, successive Israeli governments have failed to address the issue of IMI lands. Explosive materials have already claimed lives. The warning signs are clear – we must not wait for the next disaster,” cautioned Comptroller Englman.
The Comptroller also examined the management of government capital funds, stating: “The right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing in the Ministry of Finance: the Budget Department and the Accountant General’s Department are not properly coordinated.”
Since 2019, five elections for the Knesset have taken place, and Israeli citizens have also gone to the polls to elect representatives in local government elections. The Comptroller reviewed the management of human resources at the Central Elections Committee and the cybersecurity of the municipal elections held in February 2024.
“Elections for the Knesset and for local authorities are budgeted and managed by two separate public bodies — the Central Elections Committee and the Ministry of the Interior — without any coordination, knowledge-sharing, or resource pooling between them. This results in a waste of public resources,” the Comptroller concluded. “The cost of inefficiency in manual election procedures is high: the Central Elections Committee’s budget increased by NIS 250 million over three years (from NIS 336 million to NIS 583 million), and the number of personnel grew by tens of thousands (from approximately 46,000 to 73,000).”
“The information systems used in the municipal elections are outdated, many processes are carried out manually, and this constitutes a serious vulnerability in safeguarding the integrity of the elections.”
The Comptroller also examined public service at the Israel Land Authority (ILA) and warned: “The ILA remains stuck in the ‘Stone Age’: 70% of the services on its website are not available online, and in some of its systems, cyber threats are not being adequately addressed, despite the sensitive personal data of Israeli citizens stored within them.”
How many Haredi students are enrolled in universities and colleges? Despite the ongoing growth in the number of Haredi students, the audit found that the target set by the Council for Higher Education has not been met, and the proportion of Haredi students in academia has not increased.
The State Comptroller also examined how the government is implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in its work. Sustainable development aims to promote economic growth and improve quality of life, for us and for future generations, while reducing social inequality and preserving the Earth’s resources.
All UN member states, including Israel, have committed to working together to achieve 17 goals and more than 200 indicators established for sustainable development by the year 2030. However, the Comptroller found that the Israeli government is lagging behind other countries in integrating these goals into its work.
