On 18.6.18, the State Comptroller and Ombudsman, Judge (ret.) Joseph Haim Shapira, presented to the Speaker of the Knesset, MK Yuli (Yoel) Edelstein, the 44th Annual Report of the Office of the Ombudsman for the year 2017.
The Office of the Ombudsman plays a central role in the democratic regime of the State of Israel. It acts as a mouthpiece for the individual, in his relations with the authorities, and works to protect and advance his rights.
The report illustrates the wide diversity of fields and issues dealt with by the Office of the Ombudsman, as well as the large variety of people turning to it from all over the country and abroad and from all classes of society. It is possible to file a complaint free of charge in a number of ways:
- By fax
- By electronic mail
- By filling out a special form which can be found on the internet site of the Office of the Ombudsman
- By filing a complaint verbally in one of the regional reception offices of the Ombudsman
- By inserting the complaint in a special mailbox situated in the regional reception offices
- By regular post
- On Facebook
The Office of the Ombudsman is continuously working to increase accessibility to those sectors of society in particular need of assistance - those in the social and geographic periphery.
This is the task of the regional reception offices in Nazareth, Lod, and Beer Sheva, as well as the reception desk situated in the Magistrate Court in Kiryat Shmona. In addition, there are reception offices in the branches of the Office of the Ombudsman in the three largest cities - Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa. The activity of the regional reception offices makes it easier for the residents of neighbouring areas to file complaints and optimizes the investigation procedure.
The staff of the reception offices speak different languages, and it is possible to consult with them and file complaints verbally. This direct manner of receiving a complaint makes it possible to receive from the complainant clarifications about the complaint, which greatly optimizes the investigation procedure and saves unnecessary correspondence.
Urgent complaints or complaints which can be dealt with quickly, by means of a telephone conversation or a meeting, are handled directly, without activating the investigation procedure determined by law - in order to provide fast relief to the complainants.
In 2017, the Office of the Ombudsman received 12,822 complaints against audited bodies and a further 751 complaints concerning bodies against which the Office is not authorized to investigate complaints; in total - 13,573 complaints.
The following are the bodies against which the most complaints were received:
- National Insurance Institute - 979 complaints of which 18.9% were found justified;
- Israel Postal Company Ltd. - 897 complaints of which 74.2% were found justified;
- Israel Police - 589 complaints of which 25% were found justified;
- Population and Immigration Authority - 519 complaints of which 36.9% were found justified;
- Ministry of Transport and Road Safety - 509 complaints of which 39.6% were found justified;
- Ministry of Justice - 410 complaints of which 20.1% were found justified;
- Ministry of Education - 397 complaints of which 32.7% were found justified;
- Ministry of Construction and Housing - 393 complaints of which 26.4% were found justified;
- Ministry of Health - 376 complaints of which 38.7% were found justified;
- Israel Tax Authority - 332 complaints of which 47.9% were found justified.
Furthermore, in 2017 the handling of 15,157 complaints was completed (including complaints that had been received in previous years), 43.8% of complaint subjects were found justified or the issue was rectified. In 32.2% of the complaints investigated to the end, the complaint was found to be justified. This percentage is higher than the accepted percentage in civilized countries and testifies to the inadequate quality of service provided by the public sector.
The following are the bodies against which the percentage of justified complaints was higher than the overall percentage of justified complaints (32.2%):
- Israel Electric Corporation - 35.1%
- Population and Immigration Authority- 36.9%
- Ministry of Health - 38.7%
- Ministry of Transport and Road Safety - 39.6%
- Israel Tax Authority - 47.9%
- Israel Postal Company Ltd. - 74.2%
The increase in the number of complaints against the Postal Company and information received from the public in the framework of a public involvement procedure which took place in July 2017 and evoked 10,000 responses, show that the public is dissatisfied with the quality of service provided by the Postal Company and often feels a "captive customer" of the company in the absence of another body supplying postal services in the same manner and to the same extent.
The importance of the Ombudsman institute is inter alia its function as protector of social rights of the public, especially the rights of vulnerable populations within society.
One of the most important social rights is the right to health.
This report describes a comprehensive investigation by the Office of the Ombudsman of tens of complaints of sick persons in need of medical cannabis to cope with difficult and painful illnesses.
The percentage of justified complaints against the Medical Cannabis Unit in the Ministry of Health was extremely high - 83% of the complaints filed in 2017 against the Unit were found to be justified or the issue was rectified following the intervention of the Office of the Ombudsman.
Many sick persons had encountered numerous bureaucratic potholes after applying to the Unit to receive a license to purchase cannabis or renew it, including significant delays in the reception of applications and the handling of them, as well as a failure to update the stage of handling of their application.
It was the intervention of the Office of the Ombudsman that enabled many complainants to overcome the bureaucratic obstacles and receive the treatment to which they are entitled.
As in previous years, this year the Office of the Ombudsman has put special emphasis on the examination of the custodial conditions of prisoners and detainees. The Office repeatedly impresses upon the Police and the Prison Service that they must take care not to exceed the boundaries of the violation arising necessarily from the imprisonment itself and must ensure basic respect for prisoners' dignity; including providing appropriate living and sleeping conditions and taking care of prisoners' health.
In the previous annual report, the State Comptroller and Ombudsman, Judge (ret.) Joseph Haim Shapira, determined that the right to freedom of speech of the public also applied to public Facebook pages, and in light of the constitutional status of this right, a person could not be prevented from publishing his response on a public Facebook page only because it expressed criticism which caused discomfort to the public person or body. Over the last year, the Office of the Ombudsman has continued to investigate complaints on this matter. Only the consistent and uncompromising handling of this issue will lead to the complete protection of the public's right to publish its opinions on public Facebook pages.
Whistleblowers - The State Comptroller Law vested in the Ombudsman unique, quasi-judicial authority to protect whistleblowers in the civil service. This is operational authority to make protection orders - provisional or permanent - including financial relief, for eligible employees, who have disclosed corruption or a serious breach of legislation or a serious violation of proper administration.
In 2017, the Office received 48 complaints of employees who claimed that their superior had violated their rights as a result of their disclosing acts of corruption. Protection orders were granted to 17 employees - 6 permanent orders and 11 provisional orders; in 14 cases the conflicts between the complainant and the body were resolved with the assistance of Judge (ret.) Joseph Haim Shapira, or the parties gave him authority to reach a decision in their matter, including the compensation to be given to the complainant.
In December 2017, Dr. Esther Ben Haim, Adv. was appointed the new Director of the Office of the Ombudsman. The State Comptroller and Ombudsman is certain that she will steer the Office to manifold achievements and to the fortification of its status as a significant and influential institution in the democracy of Israel.