High Court hears petitions against State Comptroller probe into Oct. 7 failures

The High Court of Justice is hearing petitions against State Comptroller Matan Englman’s investigation into the core failures surrounding the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion and massacres.

The petitions were submitted by the IDF’s Military Defense Counsel and the Movement for Quality Government in Israel in June 2024, arguing that the State Comptroller has no authority to carry out such an investigation, and that his probe is compromising any future, independent investigation into the catastrophic attack.

Englman has insisted, however, that the law for the state comptroller gives him the authority to investigate all matters requiring review and examination in Israel, and that two years after the events of October 7, there is still no state commission of inquiry into the disaster.

Englman has drawn up a draft of his investigation into the main failures that enabled Hamas to successfully carry out its attack, but the Movement for Quality Government also petitioned the court to bar its publication, alleging that the state comptroller failed to seek answers properly from key decision makers when conducting his probe.

The Kan public broadcaster reported in August that senior IDF officials were alleging that Englman “marked out from the beginning” who was responsible for the October 7 attacks in order to absolve Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the government of responsibility.

Justices Daphne Barak Erez, Alex Stein, and David Mintz are hearing the case.