The Knesset's State Control Committee discussed today (23.1) the findings of the special interim report published by the State Comptroller in October 2022 on the subject of living conditions and infrastructures for soldiers in mandatory military service and on reserve duty. The report was published following a surprise visit made by Comptroller Englman and his staff to the Kfir Brigade training base in the Jordan Valley and at the Yakir post in Samaria.
Brigadier General (res.) Eitan Dahan, director of the Defense Forces Audit Division, presented to the Knesset members a survey of the report's findings, containing complaints raised by the commanders and soldiers about the medical treatment and food provided for them and the living conditions and infrastructures they use.
In response, representatives from the IDF presented the measures taken to improve the living conditions of the soldiers and reserve duty soldiers, already during the audit itself and more intensely after the report was published.
Dahan also referred at length to the claims by the reserve duty soldiers who told the Comptroller that they feel that the State is not sufficiently supporting them. The reservists complained, among other things, about the difficulty in dealing with their employers, who are dissatisfied that they are reporting for duty and are absent from work for days at a time. "We know that not many people turn up for reserve duty", said Dahan, "and so whoever does serve - it is proper to give them all the necessary support. The State must refer to this systematically".
The chairman of the Committee and its Knesset members corroborated his words. "We must adopt the reserve duty array and grant it social recognition", said Chairman MK Mickey Levy. "It very much bothers me as a citizen of the State of Israel. My children also do reserve duty". MK Moshe (Kinley) Tur-Paz added "If there is something we cannot come to terms with it is the percentage of people reporting for reserve duty. Seventy percent reported for duty, this is a crisis figure. Moreover, as far as I can make out, in this crisis - the IDF is still not there. We need to turn reserve duty service into a privilege and not a burden".