Over the past five weeks, State Comptroller Matanyahu Engelman, together with senior officials in his ministry, has toured most of the communities along the conflict line in the south and north and met with many residents and mayors. During the tours, the visitor was exposed to many deficiencies in government activity in the civilian sphere and on the home front. On Monday, Engelman sent the deficiencies document to Prime Minister Netanyahu with a demand to correct the flaws. In addition, the deficiencies were also presented to the CEOs Forum headed by the Director General of the Prime Minister's Office.
The deficiencies raised by the comptroller relate to the following issues: assistance program for residents of the conflict lines, emergency government budgeting for civilian ministries, providing information and explaining government activities to the public, evacuees' stay in hotels, education, mental health, emergency health services – including failure to evacuate under fire when many wounded bled to death while crying out for an unanswered evacuation, severe shortage of bulletproof ambulance vehicles, protection gaps in hospitals in the south and north, The serious problem in the alert classes, in the protection and shelter, and more.
State Comptroller Matanyahu Engelman (Archive), photo: Oren Ben Hakon
"At the end of a month from the beginning of the war, the entire nation of Israel is mobilized on the front and home front in order to defeat the enemy," Engelman stressed. "Alongside the war effort conducted by the War Cabinet and the Political-Security Cabinet, there are many failures and gaps in the government's handling of the home front. The government's emergency preparedness was supposed to be comprehensive, detailed, practiced and ready for operation.
"This is the expected threshold in relation to which all gaps and failures must be examined. This is also the standard expected of a country whose preparedness for emergencies is a necessary and fundamental element in its confrontation with its complex security challenges. The first month of the emergency period should not be characterized by a gradual and slow process of government organization, but rather by the rapid activation of ready-made plans and systems."
The comptroller noted that he "believes that the insights that emerged from direct interfaces with hundreds of officials and civilians and the direct observation of reality on the ground, in practice, constitute a picture of the situation of significant weight."
Cabinet meeting, photo: Haim Tzach/GPO
The State Comptroller emphasized that this is only the beginning of the audit process, stating that "as I stated in a statement on my behalf during my visit to Sderot during the first week of the outbreak of the war, the State Comptroller's Office will conduct a comprehensive and scathing audit at a time I will determine in order to examine the political and security failures. The audit will examine the activities of all levels – the political, military, and civilian echelons – on the timeline in the period before the outbreak of the heinous attack, during the days of the attack, and in the actions taken after it. At the same time, I made it clear that at this time it is our duty to support the IDF and the security forces so that they deal with one thing – and that alone – victory over our enemy.
"The State Audit will turn every stone in order to reach the truth and point out the responsibility of the relevant parties at all levels. The comprehensive activity of the State Audit will begin at a time to be determined. If an investigative committee is established, the boundaries between the areas of activity of the State Audit and the responsibilities of the commission of inquiry will be examined."
According to the comptroller, "The mapping of the various deficiencies and gaps listed below shows that the common denominator that concerns the vast majority of them is the lack of emergency preparedness as well as gaps in actual implementation. It should be noted that some of the deficiencies arose in the State Comptroller's reports in the past, for example in the areas of protection, shelter and evacuation of the population, treatment of anxiety victims during emergencies, education and distance learning, and more."
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