This week State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman hosted the heads of the charity organization ZAKA at his office in Jerusalem and received a comprehensive overview of the activity of its hundreds of volunteers since the murderous surprise attack by the terrorist organization Hamas on October 7th.
At the beginning of the meeting, the state comptroller said that along with the entire nation, he commends the hundreds of ZAKA volunteers who risked their lives in order to maintain the dignity of the dead and worked admirably to fulfill the national mission of retrieving the hundreds of murdered people and bringing them to burial with the proper dignity.
During the meeting, ZAKA CEO Dubi Weissenstern describved to the state comptroller and his staff how on the Saturday of the Simchat Torah holiday, ZAKA volunteers were urgently sent to the Gaza envelope communities to retrieve the hundreds of bodies of murdered people.
ZAKA's CEO presented all of the organization's year-round activity and said that the organization is unique due to its volunteers, who do everything for the sake of the sacred work and for the sake of all murdered people. During the meeting the organization's activity was presented and Weissenstern said that hundreds of volunteers worked daily at the different locations of the massacre and retrieved the hundreds of murdered people.
ZAKA's spokesperson, Moti Bukchin, told the state comptroller that the work at the different locations was done under the direction of and in full cooperation with the Home Front Command and the Ministry of Defense. At the present time the volunteers are returning to the sites of the massacre in order to clean the remaining blood and to handle the remaining items that have not yet been dealt with. "We will not rest until the last drop of blood is buried," he said.
The state comptroller said that the matter of the retrieval of the deceased and institutionalizing ZAKA's status will be examined in depth.
ZAKA's chief of operations, Chaim Weingarten, presented the work on the ground since the murderous attack and the great dedication of the hundreds of volunteers, in regular times too.
At the end of the meeting, ZAKA CEO Dubi Weissenstern thanked the state comptroller for listening attentively and said: "We came here to present the organization's activity to the state comptroller along with the areas where we see a need for improvement. We thank the state comptroller for making time to meet with us and for his willingness to help the hundreds of volunteers at this difficult time."
State Comptroller Englman concluded by saying: "Your sacred work of maintaining the dignity of the dead unites and strengthens the nation at this difficult time. The state audit will examine the matter of the retrieval of the deceased and all of the issues that came up in the meeting, including institutionalizing ZAKA's status, as part of the comprehensive audit that his office will conduct regarding the war."