State Comptroller’s Office insists it has right to probe military failings of October 7

The State Comptroller’s Office insists, in a submission to the High Court of Justice, that it must be allowed to exercise its duty to probe and review the key military failings before, during, and after the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023.

The submission was filed in response to a petition by the Military Defense Unit of the IDF’s Military Advocate General department, which asked the court to order the State Comptroller’s Office not to investigate issues “at the heart of the October 7 failure.”

The state comptroller has until now probed some of the ancillary failings, regarding the preparedness of the home front, assistance to citizens after the outbreak of war, and others, while the IDF has vigorously opposed any review of its role by the comptroller’s office.

“The State Comptroller’s Office sees before its eyes those whose voices were silenced, the [hostages] who returned, the families of all of these people, and all citizens of Israel — and is determined to complete all probes on the subject of the failures of October 7 and the ‘Swords of Iron War,'” states the State Comptroller’s Office.

Opposition parties and some government watchdog groups have insisted that the state comptroller’s remit does not cover military disasters and failures, and have also raised concerns that State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman, who was appointed under a Netanyahu-led government, may minimize responsibility of the political leadership for the disastrous October attack invasion.