Amid growing spat, Katz says he instructed Halevi to ‘fully cooperate’ with state comptroller’s Oct. 7 probe

Defense Minister Israel Katz says he has instructed IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi to “fully cooperate” with the state comptroller’s investigation into the October 7, 2023, onslaught.

The order comes amid tensions between Katz and Halevi, and after State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman accused the military of “intimidating” senior officers giving testimony in the framework of his investigation.

“There is no way for there to be a situation where the IDF appears to be afraid of the necessary public scrutiny and transparency, given the grave nature of the events that took place on October 7, when the chief of staff was in command of the IDF,” Katz says in a statement.

Katz says he ordered Halevi to allow the state comptroller “access to any material that may be required and fully cooperate” with the investigation.

The statement issued by Katz’s office also says the defense minister “reminds the chief of staff of his directive to finish the [internal] investigations being carried out by the IDF by the end of this month and to present him with the investigations that are already prepared at a faster pace, so that he can examine them and assess their impact on the planned rounds of appointments in the IDF.”

Katz had told Halevi that he would not approve the appointments of generals until the investigations were completed and presented to him.

In the latest statement, Katz’s office says that “due to the delay in presenting the investigations and the fact that substantial investigations, including the events of [the night between] October 6 and 7, have not yet been presented to him, there is great difficulty in approving even appointments at lower ranks.”

“Therefore he decided to approve at this stage only appointments up to the rank of colonel,” Katz’s office says.

Katz also intends to summon Halevi for a meeting on the matter, the statement adds.

Earlier this week, in a highly critical and strongly worded letter to Halevi, the state comptroller said that army officials had clandestinely recorded interviews his office conducted and briefed officers as to how to answer questions, among other measures he claimed were designed to obscure the “the truth from being disclosed.”

The IDF said in response that “the IDF always acts in accordance with the law and cooperates fully and transparently with the state comptroller.”

Englman’s probe is not a state commission of inquiry, the establishment of which has thus far been rejected by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and most members of his government.