Since the Swords of Iron War began, the Knesset's State Control Committee has been holding regular discussions on audit reports published in recent years that are relevant to various aspects of the current war. Thus, during the past two weeks the Knesset discussed a series of issues that were raised in comptroller reports over the years – from local authorities' preparedness for fires to government support for evacuees.
In December 2018, the state comptroller published a special report on local authorities' preparedness for fires, their functioning during the wave of fires in November 2016, compensation for damages and the economic costs. The discussion that was held in the committee (Nov. 13, 2023) focused on the deficiencies that were found and the recommendations for rectifying them. "Coping with emergency events faced by the civilian home front, such as fires resulting from war events and climate change, requires advance preparation," said Committee Chair MK Mickey Levy.
The director of the Local Government Division, Mira Razin, presented the findings of the audit, which revealed that the local authorities that were examined (Haifa, Zichron Yaakov, Mateh Binyamin and Mateh Yehuda) and the emergency authorities did not fully apply lessons learned from previous emergency events. The manager of unit 5 in the division, Gad Lind, and audit manager Carmit Katan also participated in the discussion.
"The local authorities that were examined, which are at risk of damage from fires due to their proximity to forests and groves, did not prepare fire protection plans," said Razin. "The normative infrastructure that existed at the time the report was written did not task any particular body with enforcement of the local authorities' obligation to follow directives regarding preparedness for civilian emergency events and for handling them when they occur. In addition, no uniform, obligatory and objective metric of local authorities' level of readiness for various emergency events was adopted." In the report, the comptroller recommended "determining a single state body that would be placed in charge of local authorities' preparedness for civilian emergency events and for handling them, and defining its areas of responsibility and its powers."
At the beginning of the discussion, the family members of two of the hostages – Uri Ravitz, son of Alma Avraham (84), and Noam Idan Ben Ezra, sister of Tzachi Idan (49) – addressed the committee's members and asked that "even if a deal takes place in stages, that we not forget any of the hostages. This must remain on the agenda."
A discussion held at the committee (Nov. 15, 2023) centered on the findings and recommendations presented by the state comptroller in the August 2021 report on the government's handling of unemployment during the COVID-19 crisis, given that tens of thousands of workers have been put on unpaid leave since the outbreak of the war.
"We know that the National Insurance Institute and the Israeli Employment Service have made significant progress following this report," said the manager of unit 15 in the Social Welfare Division, Benny Goldman. The idea of flexible unpaid leave, the German model, sometimes comes up for discussion; until COVID-19 there was no infrastructure to do this, but as a result of the report the infrastructure exists. This is a question of a political decision whether or not to use it."
Hilit Malvitzky and Dr. Renana Lindner, who conducted the audit, reviewed the main findings, insights and recommendations that are relevant to the present. "We found in the audit that the National Insurance Institute and the Israeli Employment Service did not create a unified form for people claiming unemployment benefits. Each job seeker needed to do a double process," said Lindner. "We were happy to see that the unified online form that we recommended in the report – in which everything is filled out once and the form is sent to both of the bodies simultaneously – was launched in August 2023, so now this bureaucratic burden has been reduced for unemployed people." However, Lindner revealed that an examination showed that only 25% of unemployed people make use of the new joint form.
Given the significant rise in the number of requests for a firearm license since the October 7 attack, the committee held a discussion on the May 2014 state comptroller report that examined the issue of firearm licenses and supervision of those holding them (Nov. 21, 2023).
"Four topics that were examined in the audit should be looked at and taken into consideration," said assistant manager of unit 6 in the Government Ministries and Institutions Division, Hila Or, who reviewed the report together with the assistant to the division manager, Pnina Gonen, and the manager of the audit, Elad Shield. "When we conducted the audit, the policy was to reduce firearms in the hands of the public and reduce private licenses. The policy today is the opposite and aims to dramatically increase the number of license holders. The focus should be on actions taken to ensure that the policy is implemented in a controlled, supervised and meticulous manner that does not expose society to significant risks. There is great importance in the interfaces between the Ministry of National Security and relevant governmental bodies that ensure dangerous people are identified and prevent mistakes in the provision of licenses. The Firearm Licensing Department is handling an exceptional volume of requests, and the professional and effective handling of hundreds of thousands of requests must be considered. It is also important to examine whether the licensing system is supervised."
Following the establishment of the Tkuma Directorate to rehabilitate the home front, the committee discussed (Nov. 22, 2023) the state comptroller's March 2006 report on the activity of the SELA Administration, which was responsible for integrating the evacuees from Gush Katif and northern Samaria after the Disengagement. The director of the Government Ministries and Institutions Division, Yuval Chayo, manager of unit 1 in the division, Dganit Shai, and manager of unit 3 in the Defense Establishment Division, Eyal Sonnenfeld, were present at the discussion.
At the beginning of his speech, Chayo said that "hundreds of evacuees that we met with sought certainty and transparency. This is critical, they are living in a haze." He emphasized that the government is responsible for completing all of the efforts to help evacuees and rehabilitate communities: "There are processes that will require comprehensive plans, comprehensive budgeting and perhaps also legislation. From the lessons we have learned, temporary solutions have led to a kind of neglect, and this must be taken into consideration today; we have seen this with every evacuation event. Processes were significantly delayed by planning and construction, and this requires special attention." Chayo also insisted on the need to link compensation for evacuees to interest rate increases: "We learned from previous events that time passes between when the amount is determined and when the payment is made. This has financial significance."