Video: State Comptroller criticizes the government's handling of the home front, stating that there is no justification for the late awakening/Photo: State Comptroller's Office
State Comptroller Matanyahu Engelman sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, pointing out the government's deficiencies in dealing with the home front and demanding their immediate correction. "There is no justification for the late awakening of the Israeli government in dealing with the home front – the common denominator of the deficiencies is the lack of emergency preparedness," the comptroller wrote to the prime minister.
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The deficiencies raised by the comptroller relate mainly to issues of assistance to residents of the conflict lines, emergency government budgeting for civilian ministries, providing information and explaining government activities to the public, evacuees staying in hotels, education, mental health, and emergency health services. Engelman also pointed to a failure to evacuate wounded under fire, many of whom bled to death as they cried out for an unanswered evacuation.
Matanyahu Engelman/official website, Haim Twito
In addition, Engelman mentioned the severe shortage of bulletproof ambulance vehicles, protection gaps in hospitals in the south and north, the serious problem in the alert classrooms, protection and shelters, and more. The comptroller emphasized that "when we begin the audit, we will turn every stone in order to reach the truth and point out the responsibility of the relevant parties at all levels – political, military and civilian."
Last week, Engelman appealed to government ministers and the director of the Government Companies Authority to withdraw dividends from government companies that have already been declared in the amount of NIS 2022 billion, in order to use them for war and home front expenses. In the letter, the comptroller wrote, "In 11, 1 government companies declared dividends totaling NIS 4.600 billion and announced their intention to distribute an additional NIS 2023 million in 85, i.e., a dividend distribution of NIS <> billion cumulatively. Nevertheless, the aforementioned audit revealed that out of this total, only NIS <> million was distributed from only one company. The balance of the dividend declared by government companies, which stands at close to NIS <> billion, has not yet entered the state coffers."
The comptroller also demanded a freeze on the exchange of senior executives in government companies until the end of the state of emergency. "During the war, it is worthwhile to avoid shocks in the senior management avenue and to maintain the managerial stability that exists in government companies whose activities have a broad impact on the Israeli economy," Engelman wrote. These statements were written against the background of recent reports relating to the intention to replace senior executives at management levels in some government companies, such as the replacement of the chairman of the board of directors of the Israel Postal Company.
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The Comptroller called for staffing and extending the appointment of directors in government companies – the war reality emphasizes the need to appoint directors for the defense companies Rafael, IAI and Elta. This is in view of the special importance of continuous and proper functioning in these companies, which are essential from the operational-security aspect during the war. The current situation is that Rafael appointed 7 out of 12 directors, IAI appointed 8 out of 12 directors, and ELTA appointed 5 out of 13.
In addition, the Comptroller determined that immediate action should be taken to appoint a chairman of the board of directors of the Israel Electric Corporation and to appoint missing directors and directors to replace those who will leave their positions in the next month and a half. After the termination of the current directors, the Board of Directors will be left with only one external director.
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