State Comptroller Says Senior Military Figures Tried to Block 7 October Criticism

Outgoing State Comptroller Matanyahu Engelman said on Wednesday at the Local Government Center conference that senior figures in the top ranks of the IDF pressured him to remove sections of audit reports dealing with responsibility for the 7 October massacre. He said the request was to delete the chapter on responsibility from the 7 October investigations.

Engelman said he rejected the demand outright. He told attendees, "Senior figures in the military top requested that I remove the responsibility chapter in the 7/10 inquiries." He added that identifying failures and assigning responsibility are at the core of the comptroller’s role, especially after an event with what he described as existential consequences.

According to Engelman, the state audit must expose failures and identify those responsible, without fear and regardless of the rank of the person being examined. He said he refused to soften the criticism because the public deserves accountability.

The confrontation over investigating the 7 October failures has become one of the most charged issues in Israeli politics. Engelman has insisted on his legal authority to investigate intelligence and operational failures and has already issued interim reports, while the attorney general and senior military officers oppose his investigation and are not cooperating with it.