Comptroller Launches Investigation into Conduct of War
The first in what augers to be a wave of public inquiries within Israel into the conduct of Operation Protective Edge was announced by State Comptroller Yosef Shapira on Wednesday.
The investigation will focus on the government’s response to the threat of Hamas infiltrations tunnels, home front preparedness, and official efforts at public advocacy during the operation.
According to a statement from his office, Shapira’s decision was prompted by allegations that Israel violated international law in the Gaza Strip. The State Comptroller’s office has received dozens of complaints about IDF actions.
The announcement came as former public officials, including former ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren and Prof. Yitzhak Dror, called on Israel to launch such investigations.
The IDF has already announced the launching of an internal probe of its conduct in Gaza.
On Tuesday, the comptroller released a report scathing in its criticism of the Finance Ministry, which astonishingly underestimated the 2011-12 budget deficit at 18 billion shekels, when in the end it came to 39 billion.
The report identified a number of flaws in the ministry’s budgetary forecasts, including: lack of any methodology in assessing government income; failure to appoint anyone to take overall responsibility for the matter; poor assessment of income from taxes, using two different accounting methods at the same time, and more.
This article appeared in print on page 7 of edition of Hamodia.
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