From the Liveblog of
Monday, November 4, 2024
Comptroller slammed for failing to show up for Knesset meeting about his Oct. 7 inquiry
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Committee chairman MK Mickey Levy protests State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman’s decision not to attend a hearing of the Knesset State Control Committee this morning, arguing that the official’s absence caused “serious harm to the work of the committee and the Knesset’s parliamentary oversight.”
Levy, of the opposition Yesh Atid party, argues that Englman is required by law to report to the committee and that his absence forced the hearing to end immediately after it began.
“All of the citizens of the country are demanding answers about the events of October 7. Calls for the establishment of a state commission of inquiry are heard from all ends of the political spectrum, from both the coalition and the opposition,” Levy states.
“This is the second time that the comptroller has avoided appearing for the discussion on the critical issue of probing the events of October 7. We postponed the discussion last week because he would be present this week, but he didn’t show up,” he says.
Englman announced in December he would be conducting a wide-ranging investigation into the multilevel failures leading up to, during, and after the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion and atrocities, including military and intelligence failures. However, this was strongly opposed by several government watchdog groups who expressed concern that it would interfere with the IDF’s operational capabilities during wartime and might ignore political responsibility for the devastating onslaught.
In June, the High Court ordered Englman to suspend his probe, and then later allowed it to go forward in a limited manner.
Addressing the Israel Bar Association conference in Tel Aviv in September, Englman excoriated the country’s political and military leaders, accusing them of impeding inquiries into the massacre and refusing to take any responsibility for it.
“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 timeframe when it comes to upholding the value of bearing responsibility,” he asserted at the time.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid has previously stated that he does not trust Englman’s office’s investigation, arguing that it serves merely as political cover for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rather than a good-faith effort to get to the truth of what happened.
