State comptroller accuses IDF of ‘intimidating’ senior officers interviewed in Oct. 7 probe

State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman issues a strongly worded letter of criticism to IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi over the military’s conduct during Englman’s investigation into failings of the army leading up to and during the October 7 Hamas invasion, accusing the army of “intimidating” senior officers who have been interviewed by his office.

Englman is conducting a broad investigation into the October 7 failings, including into certain aspects of the IDF’s conduct after the High Court of Justice gave him leeway to do so despite the objections of the army and the attorney general.

The state comptroller in his letter says that a representative of the deputy IDF chief of staff’s administration is present in every meeting his office conducts with senior IDF officials and that these representatives have secretly recorded such meetings without informing the participants.

Englman also alleges that one of the IDF officers who was interviewed by state comptroller officials said that he signed a nondisclosure document that limited what he could say, and that another officer indicated that he had been briefed as to how to respond during the interview.

“The IDF’s behavior sends an implicit message of deterrence and intimidation toward officers in the field and officers subordinate to the high command, and may lead to suspicions of [a lack of] full cooperation with the State Comptroller’s Office, and to thwarting the disclosure of the truth to the state comptroller, and as a result, to extremely serious harm to the state comptroller procedures,” Englman tells Halevi in the letter.

He adds that if the IDF does not remove the obstacles he said the army has placed in the way of his investigation he will summon witnesses to the State Comptroller’s Office through the force of the law, “to ensure that investigation processes can be conducted in the manner required.”

Englman concludes,”It is necessary for the IDF cooperate, in accordance with the agreed-upon outline, in a manner that enables the ongoing fight for the citizens of Israel and the defense of our state against all our enemies, alongside the implementation of state comptroller procedures that get to the root of the truth.”

The military responds to the state comptroller’s claims by saying that “the IDF always acts in accordance with the law and cooperates fully and transparently with the state comptroller.”

“The State Comptroller addressed the IDF with a number of claims. The IDF is studying all of the comptroller’s claims and will respond to them in a matter-of-fact manner as soon as possible,” the IDF says, adding that it will “continue to conduct the dialogue directly with the comptroller.”