State Comptroller and Ombudsman Matanyahu Engelman opened the second day of the Local Government Conference at the Muni Expo in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, and used the stage to defend his office’s reporting on the October 7 attacks and the war that followed. He said nearly 50 reports have already been published, with another batch due next week, including findings on the evacuation of wounded people. He noted that thousands were injured in the terrorist assault on October 7, and, he said, many bled to death because they were not evacuated in time.
Engelman described the report on the Nova festival as especially severe and important for drawing lessons. He said eight reports are currently frozen under a High Court of Justice decision, four of them drafts sent last July and four dealing with core failures. Among the frozen reports is one on the licensing and security of the Nova party in Re'im. He attacked the freeze, asking, “Who is afraid of the truth? And who is afraid of taking responsibility?” and argued that Israeli citizens deserve answers.
According to Engelman, the office has invested almost 100 man-years in reports on intelligence failure, the fence breach, evacuation of bodies, and the defense of southern cities. He said these are matters of “life and death,” and stressed that the office examines all levels, political, military and civilian. He added that the reports will assign personal responsibility to those who were in charge of serious failures.
Engelman said some petitioners asked him to remove the accountability chapter so the reports could be published, but he refused. “The truth needs to come to light,” he said, adding that responsibility should not disappear from Israeli public discourse. He also questioned the quality and scope of the army’s internal investigations, saying some were, by the army’s own admission, not good enough, and asking how far up the chain they reached. In response, the October Council said that if the government does not establish a state commission of inquiry immediately, the next massacre could be on the way.
