Military Ombudsman Maj. Gen. (res.) Yitzhak Brik on Thursday criticized the findings of a Knesset subcommittee that dismissed a report in which he cautioned that the IDF Ground Forces are not ready for war.
In his report, published in September, Brik wrote that various logistical, training and personnel issues have dramatically eroded the army's ability to wage war effectively.
The report prompted an investigation by Subcommittee for War Readiness, under the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, whose members met with GOC Army Headquarters Maj. Gen. Yaakov Barak and with several brigade and division commanders.
On Wednesday, subcommittee chairman Col. (ret.) MK Omer Bar-Lev (Zionist Union) said the panel had found that, contrary to Brik's report, the military's war readiness has improved significantly since Operation Protective Edge in 2014.
"The IDF has improved its readiness and is, in fact, ready for war despite several weak points, most of which have been identified and have or are being addressed," Bar-Lev said.
However, the following day, Brik said the subcommittee's findings were "categorically inconsistent with the gross failures that impede the Ground Forces' war readiness, as illustrated in my report and in a report by the defense establishment's comptroller."
He said his report had listed 15 serious issues that undermine the military's wartime readiness, and the subcommittee failed to address them.
"The members of the subcommittee squandered a unique opportunity to lead a courageous move that would extract the Ground Forces from the crisis they face," Brik said.
He also referred to what he described as "grave reports" from Defense Establishment Comptroller Eitan Dahan about the army's lack of readiness.
"Anyone who reads them is simply shocked by the army's incompetence, lack of discipline, lack of integration and lack of checks and balances, as well as by its failure to implement orders meant to rectify these issues," Brike said.
"We must act to correct these flaws before we are too late to preserve the IDF and its strength, in the interests of Israel's security."
