State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman spoke during a panel at Israel Hayom's "Israel Building Resilience" conference with the newspaper's legal correspondent, Elinor Shirkani Kofman, on Monday.
"Let's view this from a bird's eye perspective," the Israel Hayom correspondent said. "You've had an intense period as state comptroller. Coronavirus, economic crisis, war, Iran operation. This has been quite a challenge. Share some thoughts on it." Englman responded, "True, it's been a complex challenge. Upon taking this position, I decided one of our missions would be to give a voice to the voiceless. Everyone sees the publications about hostage survivors' difficult struggle. We just heard that. Our first report on the Iron Swords War addressed mental health treatment. But still these days, this area demands examining recommendations and correcting deficiencies. Among hostage survivors, we observe mass fundraising efforts organized for them. It's inappropriate that those kidnapped on October 7, along with families of IDF casualties and wounded, need mass fundraising.
"We, as part of our Government criticism, review rights fulfillment, their entitlements, the education system, and treatment readiness. The state must support them for years to come. I'll also add that we're examining war wounded, auditing both the health system's rehabilitation services and the Defense Ministry's disabled veterans rehabilitation programs."
Who will be accountable?
"Netanyahu addressed the report on the lack of civilian emergency management within the government," Englman said, then added, "I wonder – if an earthquake hits, who will be the accountable authority?"
Q: You raised earthquakes. You ultimately wrote a sharp report on that. What does this mean?
"There are numerous changes. We produced a sharp report on Guardian of the Walls. Citizens faced riots. Generally, we haven't seen riots since. That doesn't mean we should feel comfortable, but it means reports should serve as guidance. Yesterday I met with Netanyahu, and my first words were to take the reports and study them. He said that on these issues, he truly needs to examine and determine how to implement fixes. Our reports are thoroughly grounded. Built on both law and procedure. Also frequently on Israeli citizens. When I visit areas and see Kiryat Shmona residents lacking solutions, there's critical importance that the government provide the support."
Q: How can we avoid discussing the state inquiry commission? There's an argument you're blocking the commission's formation because it duplicates your work, and that your reports interfere with witness accounts and prevent getting to the truth. How do you address this?
"I examine the law," Englman answered. "There's a state comptroller law. After state comptroller reports, another entity can establish a state inquiry commission. It's no secret the government faces difficulties. Using the state comptroller report, a state inquiry commission can be formed via an additional channel. These arguments were previously presented to the Supreme Court. All our criticism regarding Iron Swords follows Supreme Court precedent. There's no conflict. Quite the opposite. I believe the October 7 failures stem from unwillingness to accept criticism.
"Female [IDF field] observers attempted to warn and were ignored. We're paying an extremely heavy price for that. There's no inquiry commission that received appointment... I spoke with the inquiry chairwoman. She said, 'I can proceed my way and you'll proceed your way.' Still, I reviewed the commission's jurisdiction. Until now we don't understand what its mandate entails. We have a report, and a Nova survivors representative was present here earlier. We have a report covering the Re'im party licensing and its security. We investigated the matter comprehensively. Why did military forces arrive only delayed, what were the security arrangements, isn't it appropriate that Israeli citizens get the answers? Part of the delays result from our insistence on receiving responses from various entities.
"Our reports rest on extensive evidence. The state audit procedure is designed so whoever gets a draft, which isn't released publicly, to allow those whose names appear an opportunity to correct, to express where the person challenges our findings. Reports can be modified. This is the state audit approach for years. We're accountable exclusively to Israel's public. The reports will be released to the public."
