Hundreds of thousands of residents requiring essential services during Swords of Iron discovered that they were not functioning as required. Those responsible for the main failures arising from the report: Prime Minister Netanyahu, Minister of Finance Smotrich, former Minister of Defense Gallant and his predecessors in office
The State Comptroller and Ombudsman, Matanyahu Englman, is publishing today a special report on the government handling of the civilian sphere during the war. This is the fourth publication of the audit reports on the October 7 disaster and the Swords of Iron War.
"Hundreds of thousands of residents experienced at first hand the failures of the Israeli government in the handling of the civilian sphere during the Swords of Iron War", said Comptroller Englman. "The audit we are publishing today exposes prolonged negligence: Throughout more than 17 years, the government has not appointed a body to be responsible for managing the handling of the home front during times of emergency".
Those responsible for the failures
In the report, the State Comptroller imposed personal responsibility on those responsible for the main failures:
- "The Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, did not advance the matter during the 13 accumulative years of his term of office. The price of this prolonged negligence was paid by the residents of Israel, who desperately needed treatment by government bodies during the war. The decisions made by the government after the outbreak of the war did not achieve their purpose, and in fact their implementation vanished as a result of the disastrous attempt to provide a functional structure without proper prior preparation".
- "The Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, did not exercise his authorities to deal with the civilian aspects of the war. The Minister failed in the establishment of a civilian control center and barely convened the Socio-Economic Cabinet that he headed. Consequently, in practice, the Cabinet evaded fulfilling its role in dealing with the civilian aspects during the war. This and more, in the outcome test, the Ministry of Finance – its management and professional staff, including in the administrative and legal sphere, the Commissioner of Wages as well as the Civil Service Commission – did not succeed in implementing the government decision to establish a civilian control center and operate it during the war, and they did not provide a response for the difficulties during the attempt to implement the Minister's policy regarding the establishment of a civilian control center and operate it during the war".
- "The former Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, and his predecessors in office, did not regulate throughout the years the status of the National Emergency Portal and the Home Front Command. Alongside this, these emergency bodies did not in practice provide a satisfactory response to the various gaps during the Swords of Iron War. The National Emergency Portal did not constitute a national emergency body, managing the civilian aspects of the handling of the home front during the war – and the Home Front Command, a body with great resources, did not provide a response for the needs of the evacuees, and the role of its representatives at the evacuee sites was unclear".
- "The Director General of the Prime Minister's Office, Yossi Shelley, operated the Forum of Government Ministry Directors General in a defective manner. This had implications affecting the government's inclusive handling of the civilian sphere during the war".
The State Comptroller determined that "The Prime Minister and the Ministers of Finance and Defense must immediately establish an inclusive and high-quality array for managing the civilian aspects during the war".
Audit of all the echelons
A few days after the October 7 massacre, the State Comptroller launched a series of tours of the localities in the Gaza Envelope, the south and the north. The Comptroller met with evacuees at hotels in Eilat, the Dead Sea, Jerusalem, the center and the north.
On January 7th, 2024, the Comptroller announced the start of the audit on about 60 topics, which would be examined by about 200 audit managers from the Office of the State Comptroller. The Comptroller emphasized three milestones for the audit:
- The audit would target all the echelons: Political, military and civilian.
- In the core audits and in the audits on additional topics, personal liability would be imposed on those responsible for the failures.
- When a national commission of inquiry is established – the State Comptroller will determine its perimeters.
The first intention was to publish within a few months the reports dealing with the core of the failure that enabled the October 7 massacre. But an interim injunction – which was lifted just a few weeks ago after agreements made between the Office of the State Comptroller and the IDF and the ISA – held up the audits on these topics by about 15 months. It should be noted that the Office of the State Comptroller is also presently in the middle of the audit process on the core topics.
In light of the situation created, Comptroller Englman decided that due to the great importance attached also to the reports on the civilian topics – these reports would be published as soon as the work on them is completed. This publication, as aforesaid, is the fourth out of the Swords of Iron reports, and it deals with civilian issues.
Naturally the public is entitled to answers to the difficult questions about the most serious negligence in the history of the state. The State Comptroller will not rest until he provides the answers to the failures of the political echelon and the military echelon, and these will be published when the audit work on them has been completed.
