State Comptroller and Ombudsman Matanyahu Englman:
"The Israeli government failed to take proper care of the home front in the first weeks of the Swords of Iron war. There was no justification for this. The lack of implementation of plans for economic assistance to the public at the beginning of the operation, along with the evacuation of residents from their homes, resulted in a situation where hundreds of thousands of citizens became a needy population. The Office of the Ombudsman at the Office of the State Comptroller immediately opened a hotline and went to the evacuee sites to provide a response to those who had fallen "through the cracks" of the government ministries and the various authorities. The ministers and ministries must draw lessons from the public complaints and act to ameliorate the service to Israeli citizens, in particular at this time of emergency".
State Comptroller and Ombudsman Matanyahu Englman published today (December 19th, 2023) a special report concerning the public complaints in the matter of the state authorities management of the home front during the first weeks of the "Swords of Iron" war. At the same time, the State Comptroller began to conduct audit activities of the home front, and as he has already announced – it is his intention to also initiate an audit on the defense issues both before the massacre on 7.10 and in the management of the political and military echelons on that day and thereafter. The audit on the core defense issues will commence when reality allows it.
According to the contents of the Ombudsman's special report, during the first 43 days of the war 1,329 inquiries relating to the emergency situation were received by the hotline opened by the Ombudsman, with the emphasis on residents of the southern and northern confrontation lines. 40% of the inquiries were addressed immediately by providing information and guidance. About 68% of the complaints that had been investigated by the Ombudsman were fully resolved.
The government ministries and state institutions concerning which the largest number of inquiries was received are the Home Front Command (130 inquiries), the National Insurance Institute (119), the Ministry of Labor (74), the Israel Tax Authority (70) and the Ministry of National Security (57).
The common denominator of the inquiries received lies both in the resident's difficulty in receiving service from the state authorities and in matters directly related to the war, such as protected spaces, activity of educational institutions, eligibility for special grants, and the treatment of evacuees.
The topic where the most inquiries were received is the matter of service to the public. After that a large number of inquiries were received concerning compensation and grants, education and learning, home front defense, evacuation and care of evacuees, and more.
The report found that, contrary to normal days, during the war period there were more women who filed complaints (53.6% as opposed to 43.4% in the 2022 Annual Report).
It should be noted that the implementation of a plan for economic assistance to the public was delayed for a prolonged period, and this was a substantive failure. This was even more so with regard to the residents of the north and south from the private sector, including freelancers, who described to the State Comptroller and Ombudsman the reality of their life under conditions of uncertainty: They are suffering from a lack of income while bearing their usual costs of employee salaries, payments to suppliers and bank credit repayments. The lack of implementation of a plan for economic assistance to the public right at the start of the operation, along with the evacuation of people from their homes, created a situation where hundreds of thousands of citizens became a needy population.
The hotline and the Ombudsman's visits to the evacuee centers
Shortly after the massacre on Simchat Torah on 7.10.23, various telephone assistance hotlines were set up. Right at the start it was noticeable that there was no integrating party who could be addressed to receive assistance and information in all the various fields, and the absence of such a party adversely affected the service to the public by the various hotlines. Furthermore, the fact that many of the government ministries' employees were working from their homes during the first month of the war, and many other employees had been called up to the reserves, adversely affected the ministries' day-to-day work, and consequently the service provided to the citizens by the hotlines and the public offices.
In addition, information regarding all the government’s activities for supporting the home front was not made available to the public in an organized manner. The unique challenge of evacuating hundreds of thousands of people from their homes, the uncertainty during a state of war, and the formulation of various assistance programs – all these reinforced the immediate need for a "civilian spokesperson" – one permanent party who would provide information on a daily basis and explain to the public the government's actions from the civilian aspects, and in particular with regard to the assistance in the fields of finance, education, health and welfare.
Due to its advantage and status, the Office of the Ombudsman at the Office of the State Comptroller assumed the role of providing information to whoever found themselves in distress on account of the state of emergency, to assist them in realizing their rights, in addition to investigating complaints about the public bodies.
A short while after the events of 7.10.23, the State Comptroller and Ombudsman decided to open a special hotline to receive inquiries concerning the state of emergency and all its effects. The hotline was called "The Ombudsman's Hotline".
The hotline is open both for telephone calls (02-6665199) and WhatsApp messages (050-3995422). Furthermore, the Ombudsman has opened the doors of its offices to receive the public also in areas that were hit by rockets, in order to provide a human face-to-face response to those needing it during the emergency time.
In the middle of October, the government decided upon a national plan of action for the evacuation of the population from the northern and southern confrontation lines. At the beginning, it was noticeable that there was no government representation at the evacuee centres. Later, the presence of representatives from the government ministries increased, including from the Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs (hereinafter: the Ministry of Welfare) and the Ministry of Education, and at certain centers also from the Prime Minister's Office, the Ministry of Health, and others. Nevertheless, there was still no managerial party who could concentrate the activities of the government ministries on site and coordinate between them. For example, in the hotels occupied by evacuees there was no single government party coordinating the information about all the evacuees staying in each hotel and their various needs. Likewise, on several occasions it was found that the representatives from the Prime Minister's Office or other government parties present at the hotels did not have any available resources to deal with the issues arising in situ. According to government ministries' representatives, these issues were sometimes solved on the basis of personal acquaintance with a party from a government ministry, or following an inquiry to the civilian assistance operations room, operated by volunteers.
The Office of the Ombudsman entered into this vacuum by offering to help the evacuees in two main ways: One, 64 visits (as of 19.11.23) by employees from the Office of the Ombudsman to dozens of relocation facilities all over the country, for the purpose of gaining a first hand impression and providing a sympathetic ear with regard to the evacuees' difficulties and taking their complaints; and the second, investigation of the various complaints arising from the residents' rushed evacuation to facilities far from their homes. In the visits to the evacuee centres, the employees from the Office of the Ombudsman were exposed to a series of problems that the evacuees had to cope with – the housing conditions at the hotels, income problems and being put on unpaid leave (halat), not receiving updated information with regard to their rights, and difficulty in exercising their rights due to digital illiteracy. It should be noted that the employees from the Office of the Ombudsman visited evacuee centers in Eilat, Mitzpe Ramon, the Dead Sea, Metzoke Dragot, Almog, Jerusalem, Ma'ale HaHamisha, Tel Aviv, Netanya, Ra'anana, Nazareth, Sdot Yam and Tiberias.
Examples of complaints appearing in the public complaints report
Compensation for damage to property:
- Compensation for damage to the vehicle of a survivor from the "Nova" party: An inquiry was received at the hotline from a person whose two brothers were at the "Nova" party – one of the brothers was murdered and the other survived but his vehicle was burnt. The vehicle owner received a certificate from the police that the vehicle had been burnt, but when he applied to the Israel Tax Authority to receive compensation for the vehicle, they told him that he must go and identify it before receiving the compensation. The brother applied to the Office of the Ombudsman on behalf of the vehicle owner, who due to his condition was finding it difficult to make any progress in dealing with his affairs. According to him, it was not possible to locate and identify the vehicle, and all his attempts to contact the Israel Tax Authority in the matter had been unsuccessful. The inquiry was raised in the internal WhatsApp group opened by the Office of the Ombudsman for the purpose of consultation and exchanging information. The Office's representative, who was at the evacuee center with a representative from the Israel Tax Authority at the time of the consultation in the group, asked her to investigate the inquiry. After the representative from the Israel Tax Authority had examined the matter, it was found that the vehicle had not been included in the database of the vehicles that had been located. At the Office's request, the Authority's representative contacted the applicant and guided him how to act for the purpose of receiving the compensation. The Office followed up on the inquiry until the compensation had been paid into the vehicle owner's account.
- Recognition of a victim of hostile action from Sderot: At a hotel in Eilat, employees from the Office of the Ombudsman met with an evacuee from Sderot who claimed that during the events of 7.10.23 he ran to provide first aid to the injured people in the city and was almost wounded by gunfire. Since that event he requires psychiatric medications. The complainant applied to the National Insurance so that he would be recognized as a victim of hostile action, but he was rejected on the grounds that he does not live in one of the neighborhoods in Sderot that were attacked by the terrorists. The complainant noted that he was documented in footage from the scenes of the event, and he urgently requires recognition as a victim of hostile action. The Office applied to the National Insurance, and in response it was told that the complainant had been recognized as a victim of hostile action.
- Difficulty in obtaining reserve duty payments: A person serving in the reserves at the rank of lieutenant colonel applied to the Office of the Ombudsman on 19.11.23 and claimed that even though he had been called up by an "Order 8" as early as 7.10.23, he had not received the reserve duty payment for a month and a half, apart from a payment for two days. The complainant noted that this fact makes it very difficult for him financially. According to him, when he applied to the National Insurance, he was told that no report had been received from the IDF for the period of his service, while when he applied to the IDF he was told that the full report had been sent to the National Insurance. The complainant requested that the Office of the Ombudsman assist him in sorting out the matter. The Office contacted both the National Insurance and the IDF. Following the Office's inquiry, the IDF sent another updated report to the National Insurance. The Office ascertained that the report had been received by the National Insurance and that it would be taken care of promptly. Five days after the complaint had been received, the payment was transferred to the applicant's bank account.
- The disabled father was reunited with his daughter at a hotel: A resident of Kiryat Shmona claimed that since she had been evacuated, she had been living with her disabled husband in her daughter's apartment in the center of the country, since no room had been found for her at a hotel in Tiberias near her other daughter's room, who had also been evacuated. According to the complainant, she required the assistance of the daughter staying at the hotel in Tiberias in caring for her husband. The complainant applied to the Ministry of Tourism's hotline on the matter, but no solution was found for the problem, and subsequently she also found it difficult to make contact with the hotline and obtain a response. The Office applied to the Ministry of Tourism in the matter, and following the inquiry the complainant was housed in the hotel she had requested.
Evacuees from Ashkelon:
The distress of residents from Ashkelon stood out among the inquiries received at the hotline and at the evacuee centers. During the period of the report, 169 inquiries were received from Ashkelon residents, constituting 12.3% of all the inquiries received at the Office of the Ombudsman during this period. Two examples are described below:
- Assistance in evacuating a disabled IDF veteran: An elderly disabled IDF veteran related that at the beginning of the war a rocket had fallen near his home, and the house had been damaged by blast waves. The complainant and his wife applied to several parties to obtain approval for evacuation to a hotel outside Ashkelon, but their inquiry was not dealt with. Following the Office's inquiry, a representative from the Ashkelon Municipality contacted the complainant and his wife. During the conversation it transpired that the couple's son, as well as their daughter and her two children, had come to live with them during the war. The mother had undergone surgery and required the daughter's assistance, and the son suffers from health problems. As a rule, according to the prescribed criteria, the other family members are not eligible for evacuation, but due to the described circumstances it was decided to evacuate all six family members to a hotel.
- The evacuation from a hotel of a family whose son had been severely injured was avoided: A family from Ashkelon was evacuated to a hotel after their house had suffered a direct hit from a rocket and their son had been severely injured. The Israel Tax Authority had approved compensation for them, and they were required to leave the hotel. The family contacted the Office of the Ombudsman and claimed that it had no possibility of finding an alternative apartment with the compensation sum determined by the Israel Tax Authority and immediately, in particular in view of the son's condition. Following the Office's inquiry, a welfare representative in Ashkelon contacted the family and notified them that due to the circumstances they would not be required to vacate the hotel until they found an apartment.
Parking problems for evacuees in Tel Aviv:
The evacuation of many families with their vehicles to hotels in central and crowded cities created a problem of a lack of sufficient parking spaces for the evacuees or car parking in expensive private sites. During one of the visits by a team from the Office of the Ombudsman to a hotel in Tel Aviv where evacuees were housed, a very upset woman who had been evacuated from the city of Sderot approached them. She told them that a few minutes before, the Tel Aviv Municipality had towed her vehicle because she had parked in a prohibited parking space. That very same day an investigation was conducted which found that when the war broke out the Municipality had avoided enforcing traffic offenses, but due to the danger to the public arising from parking vehicles in spaces not designed therefor, the Municipality had gone back to enforcing traffic offenses, after it had notified the public about it.
The Municipality updated that it would be possible for evacuated residents to receive a temporary parking sticker which would allow them to park on blue and white curb free of charge, and likewise, there is the possibility of evacuees parking their vehicle in subsidized municipal parking lots. In regard to the parking ticket that the complainant received, it was proposed that she submit a request to cancel the ticket, and indeed the ticket was cancelled accordingly, and her vehicle was returned to her. Likewise, she was given the possibility of moving to a hotel in another location where there was adjacent parking.
Fortification:
From complaints received at the Office of the Ombudsman in the matter of substandard bomb shelters and from tours conducted by the State Comptroller and Ombudsman, an investigation found that the government's plans for fortification of the north and south had not been implemented, that the fortification and shelter discrepancies have remained the same, and that the recommendations mentioned in the State Comptroller and Ombudsman's report in the matter dated August 2020 have not been implemented. Three examples are set out below:
- Broken stairs on the way to the shelter: A resident of Afula called the hotline and complained that the access to the public shelter next to her home is not illuminated at night, and the stairs on the way to the shelter are broken. According to her, despite her inquiries to the Afula Municipality the matter has not yet been dealt with, and she is very anxious due to the situation. The problems were fixed within 24 hours after the Office of the Ombudsman contacted the Municipality.
- An attorney who took over the shelter: A resident of Jerusalem complained that the joint shelter in the building where he lives is being used as an attorney's office. The Jerusalem Municipality filed an indictment in the matter, but for about two years the shelter had not been vacated, and the lack of a shelter was felt even more strongly during this period. The Office of the Ombudsman contacted the Municipality, and that same day the shelter was vacated. The issue is still being followed up to ascertain that the shelter is accessible to the tenants.
- The gas cylinders that blocked the shelter: A resident of Ra'anana claimed that a facility containing her neighbor's gas tanks had been affixed next to the joint shelter's escape ladder. According to her, she was very much afraid that the facility was a safety hazard in its location next to the ladder and blocking the possibility of using it. The Office contacted the Ra'anana Municipality and the Ministry of Energy and in response the Municipality updated that it had contacted the neighbor and the gas company and two days later the gas tanks facility had been moved away from the place.
Alerts for the hard of hearing in the ultra-Orthodox sector:
An inquiry was received by the Office's hotline from a family in Bnei Brak where the family members were hard of hearing. According to them, they cannot hear the sirens and they do not wish to keep a smartphone for ideological reasons. The Office contacted various parties, including the Home Front Command and the Bnei Brak Municipality, in an attempt to find a solution to the matter. Following the inquiries, it transpired that there was an accessible method of receiving alerts from the Home Front Command by dialing the landline number 073-3444400 and registering to receive alerts by a telephone ringing in the event of a siren in an area defined by the user. The Office updated the applicants of this, and the applicant updated that he had registered and received alerts via this solution. A representative from the family called the person investigating the complaint and wished to thank the Office for acting on its behalf.
Difficulties in renewing a firearms license:
- A lieutenant colonel in the reserves did not receive his weapon back: A lieutenant colonel in the reserves from the south contacted the Office of the Ombudsman and complained that before the war started, he was compelled to deposit his personal weapon, allegedly because when he renewed his firearms license in 2021, he mentioned that he was taking sleeping pills. Since then, the complainant contacted the Ministry of National Security and provided a medical certificate that he was fit to possess a weapon, but it took a very long time to deal with his case, and consequently he was unable to participate in protecting this locality. The matter was dealt with quickly following an inquiry by the Office, and the complainant's license for possession of a weapon was renewed.
- The license was renewed – but the weapon was not given back: A resident of Oranit contacted the Office of the Ombudsman, claiming that he had fulfilled all the conditions for renewal of the license to carry a private firearm, even before the "Swords of Iron" war. This notwithstanding, he was required to deposit his personal weapon at the police before his license had been renewed – and he did so. His license was renewed the following day, but he did not receive the confirmation document for the release of his personal weapon that had been deposited at the police, despite his appeals to the Ministry of National Security through every possible channel. The complainant claimed that his need for his personal weapon had increased with the outbreak of the war, on account of his place of residence. Following the Office's inquiry, the complainant received the desired confirmation immediately, and on that same day he updated that he had received his weapon back and thanked the Office for its speedy handling of the matter.
Assistance to a family from Netivot suffering from anxiety:
The home of the complainant, a resident of Netivot, the mother of a child suffering from depression, was hit by a rocket and its windows were broken. Since then, she and her family members had been suffering from anxiety. Since the Netivot Municipality was not included in the list of local authorities whose residents the government had decided to evacuate, the complainant's family evacuated to Eilat independently, but returned to Netivot due to the cost of staying at the hotel; it should be noted that the members of the complainant's extended family, who live in Sderot, were evacuated to Eilat. The complainant requested the assistance of the Office of the Ombudsman in alleviating her situation. The Welfare Department at the Netivot Municipality responded to the Office's inquiry and said that after receiving the complaint, they had contacted the complainant, and her family had received assistance in spending a five-days respite in a hotel in Eilat. Furthermore, the family had been provided with financial assistance.
Complex dental treatment for a child from Sderot: Before the outbreak of the war, the Office received a complaint from a resident of Sderot, the father of a three-year-old child who was suffering from severe dental problems and required treatment under anesthetic. When the father contacted Clalit for the purpose of receiving treatment he was referred to a telephone hotline. He left messages on the hotline's voicemail, but no representative got back to him. After the war broke out, Clalit notified the Office that due to the situation no dental treatments are being carried out under anesthetic. The child was evacuated with his family from Sderot to Tel Aviv, and his father told the Office that his son was suffering a lot and not eating. The Office contacted Clalit in order to examine how it would be possible to assist the suffering child. Clalit told the Office that following the complaint the clinic at the Schneider Children's Medical Center had contacted the family and made an appointment for the child for an examination the following day.
The kibbutz refused to enroll the evacuated child in the daycare center: An evacuee from a locality in the north of the country wished to enroll her two-year-old daughter in the daycare center in a kibbutz in the Jordan Valley Regional Council, but the daycare center refused to take the evacuees' children. The possibility of enrolling the child in a daycare center in another locality was examined, but the evacuee was required to provide a certificate of transfer of the child from the daycare center in her locality, something which could not be done due to the state of war. Following the intervention of the Office of the Ombudsman, the Department of Education at the Council contacted the evacuee, and following the conversation the opening of a daycare center at the kibbutz for the evacuees' children was moved forward. The Office also contacted the Ministry of Labor, the Commissioner of Registration for Daycare Centers and Nurseries, in the matter of the requirement to provide a certificate of transfer from the daycare center where the child was registered. In response, it was told that it would be possible to transfer a child from one daycare center to another online, without the necessity of a certificate of transfer from the previous daycare center.
Transport to a special education institution in Bnei Brak: The mother of a one-year-old child with severe visual impairment who lived in Bnei Brak said that her daughter was attending a rehabilitative daycare center in Ramat Gan which had been adapted to her visual impairment, and when the war broke out the daycare center's activity had stopped for a week. The daycare center was subsequently reopened, but the Bnei Brak Municipality did not renew the transportation to the daycare center, and the complainant was forced to miss work and stay at home with her daughter without the treatment adapted for her. An investigation of the complaint showed that transportation to the rehabilitative daycare centers is the responsibility of the local authority. The Office of the Ombudsman contacted the Bnei Brak Municipality in the matter, and following the inquiry the Municipality discussed the matter and decided to resume the transportation to the rehabilitative daycare centers, including the transportation to the daycare center where the complainant's daughter was registered.