State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman gave a survey today (Wednesday, 27.12.23) to the staff of the Office of the State Comptroller of the list of areas where he intends to examine all the aspects pertaining to the massacre on 7.10, the period preceding it, and how the government ministries managed the care they provided for all residents of Israel during the period after the massacre.
The topics of the audit were formulated over the past two and a half months, and after the harsh letter that the State Comptroller sent to the Prime Minister on 13.11.23, which sets out in detail the failures and discrepancies in the government's management of the home front, which became apparent from the tours that took place on site.
In accordance with the declaration of his intentions set out by the Comptroller during the tour of Sderot as far back as 10.10.23, the organizational audit concerning the treatment of the home front will begin within the next few days, with the start of the audit about the defense forces being conducted in accordance with the development of the war. Due to the multisystem failures that accompanied the events of the war, the State Comptroller decided that all the audit divisions at the Office of the State Comptroller would deal with the matter from many angles.
In order to make the audit on the war matters effective and relevant, Comptroller Englman decided that the lion's share of the Office's audit plan for 2024 would be dedicated to these audits. The Comptroller further decided that the war audits would include two layers: The first layer – an investigation of the events and the management of the political, military and civilian echelons before and immediately after the outbreak of the war; the second layer – an examination of the actions performed after the start of the war. It should be noted that within the next few days the State Comptroller will publish reports which are mainly economic in content and whose preparation was concluded before the war and whose publication had been delayed until now in view of the events of 7.10 and the outbreak of the war.
Comptroller Englman told the staff that "On 7.10 the borders of the State of Israel were breached, and the accursed Hamas terrorists did whatever they liked in the Israeli localities, unhindered. Thousands of Israeli citizens were massacred, wounded, raped and abducted and abandoned to their fate on Simchat Torah. Subsequently, hundreds of thousands of residents of the Confrontation Lines in the north and south, who have been evacuated from their homes, have become needy and affected by the government's failure to deal with the home front in real time. This is a reality-changing event on a national level. The reality that existed until the day of the massacre cannot continue. This premise underlies the planning of the state audit of the events leading up to the massacre, the day of the massacre itself, and the events that Israeli citizens faced afterwards.
For two months I have toured, together with the division directors and the Office of the Ombudsman, the length and breadth of the country, in northern and southern border localities, in hotels housing evacuees in Eilat, the Dead Sea, Jerusalem and Tiberias, in hospitals and in the Shura camp. The defects revealed in the defense response on the day of the massacre continued in a series of discrepancies in the civilian response to hundreds of thousands of evacuees upon the outbreak of the war.
The organizational audit of the handling of the home front will begin within the next few days, with the start of the audit about the defense forces being conducted in accordance with the development of the war, in view of the fact that the war is still going on and that for more than 80 days IDF officers and soldiers are toiling day and night in a bloody war inside the Gaza Strip and all Israeli citizens must support them at this time. Nevertheless, it is clear even now that the Israeli government and the defense forces must conduct a thorough internal examination as to how the great failure on 7.10 occurred.
In conclusion, I wish to send condolences to the families of the fallen and the murdered, wish a speedy recovery to the IDF fighters and the victims of hostile action, and pray that the hostages will soon return home".
The State Comptroller again emphasized that the nature of the massacre on 7.10, its implications and the failures becoming apparent in respect of it until now – compel the state audit to examine the personal responsibility at all levels – political, military and civilian.
Comptroller Englman further clarified that insofar as an investigative committee is formed, jurisdictional limits will be determined in relation to the issues to be examined.
The following is a list of the main areas of the audit set out in detail by the Comptroller, and which will be updated as necessary:
In the political field: The management by the Israeli government, including from the following aspects:
· Security – the management of the State Security Cabinet.
· Civilian – management of the government ministries' handling of the home front.
· Economic – the management of the Socio-Economic Cabinet.
In the security field:
· The management of the political echelon and the military echelon of the events of 7.10.
· The intelligence preparation before 7.10.
· The defense concept of the Gazan border before the outbreak of the war.
· The preparedness of the rapid response squad in the Gaza Envelope localities before the outbreak of the war.
· The financial fight against the funding of Hamas activity.
· The lack of equipment for the fighters.
In the civilian field:
· The government's management of the civil emergency headquarters upon the outbreak of the war.
· Evacuation of the population from the northern and southern confrontation lines.
· The care of the evacuees and the response in the fields of education, welfare and mental health.
· Evacuation of the wounded.
· Collection and identification of the bodies of the victims.
· Exhaustion of the rights of the victims of hostile action upon the outbreak of the war.
· National and international public diplomacy activity.
In the economic field:
· The preparedness of the Ministry of Finance for emergency budgeting and procurement before the war.
· The budgeting processes of the war budget and realization of the financial assistance program.
· Assistance to small businesses.
· The government's activity in making changes to the quota for foreign workers in the economy before and during the war.
In the technological field:
· The state's preparedness for a cyber attack before and during the war.
· Management of the digital information concerning the care of the evacuees.
All the matters will be examined on two main levels: The early preparedness of the political, military and civilian echelons and the response actually provided during the course of the war.
In the words of Comptroller Englman: "The nature of the massacre on 7.10, its implications and the failures becoming apparent in respect of it until now, as well as our moral and ethical obligation to the fallen, the wounded, the abducted and the IDF soldiers, who are currently risking their lives to protect the homeland and bring the hostages back – compel the state audit to examine the personal responsibility at all levels – political, military and civilian".