Comptroller: Political, security chiefs are failing to take responsibility for Oct. 7, hindering probes

Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter

State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman speaks at the Israel Bar Association annual conference in Tel Aviv, September 3, 2024. (Israel Bar Association)
State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman speaks at the Israel Bar Association annual conference in Tel Aviv, September 3, 2024. (Israel Bar Association)

State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman excoriates the country’s political and military leaders for impeding inquiries into the Hamas invasion and massacre of October 7, and says not one leader has taken responsibility in an appropriate or timely fashion.

Englman upbraids the army specifically for resisting his effort to conduct a review of the military’s actions in the lead-up to and following the onslaught, and chastises the Prime Minister’s Office for holding up and interfering with his review.

“In Israel, as of September 2024, there is no one who has taken personal responsibility with action alongside it — not at the political level, not at the security and military level, and not at the civilian level,” the state comptroller declares.

He laments routine leaks from classified forums, such as the security cabinet, in which various senior officials and politicians have leaked information designed to push responsibility onto others.

“There has not been a single person among the elected officials, bearers of public office, military leaders and the security establishment, who has met the proper standard and the expected time when it comes to upholding the value of bearing responsibility,” Englman tells the Israel Bar Association conference in Tel Aviv.

Israel’s top military intelligence official, Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, who headed the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate, resigned in April over his role in the failures leading to October 7, while the commander of the IDF’s Gaza Division, Brig. Gen. Avi Rosenfeld, resigned his post in June for the same reason.

Englman criticizes the defense establishment for trying to stop his review of the military’s actions before October 7, saying it has “built high and impassable walls which have led to the stymying of the review,” adding that “the Prime Minister’s Office, for its part — even though it has provided material — is still putting up obstacles which are hindering and disrupting the required professional activities.”

The state comptroller adds: “All of them, at different levels of severity, do not convey the public and principled resilience expected of them, which at its foundation is a readiness [to accept] real criticism, without limitation, even if the results are biting and tough.”

He says he believes it is “very doubtful if it will be possible to restore this value in the future.”

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