High Court judges challenge comptroller’s authority, competence to probe Oct. 7 |
The High Court of Justice strongly questioned the authority of the state comptroller to examine the failings surrounding the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion Sunday as justices mulled petitions seeking to halt the ombudsman’s probe, which critics fear will act as a largely toothless substitute for a more substantial state commission of inquiry into the massacre.
At the heated hearing, which was punctuated by outbursts from bereaved parents, justices questioned how State Comptroller Matanya Englman had conducted his probes into the disaster thus far, upbraiding him for failing to interview Herzi Halevi, the Israel Defense Forces chief of staff at the time of the unprecedented terror assault.
And Justice David Mintz pointed out that matters of security and strategy appeared to be outside the state auditor’s purview, according to the law empowering the State Comptroller’s Office, indicating agreement with petitioners who argued that the role of the office under Basic Law: State Comptroller is to examine only the processes of agencies under review.
Englman, who was given permission to speak in addition to the oral arguments made by the State Comptroller Office’s lawyer Matan Guttman, contended that the ability of his office to probe the October 7 attack was critical for preserving the independence of his office as well as the framework of Israel’s brand of democracy.
The Military Advocate General’s Corps’ Military Defense unit and the Movement for Quality Government in Israel petitioned the High Court in September to halt Englman’s probe into the events of October 7, alleging that there were “substantive flaws” in Englman’s information-gathering processes, and arguing more broadly that the ombudsman has neither the remit or competence to conduct such inquiry.
The petitions were filed following revelations in August last year that Englman’s probe had drawn up draft reports on his review of the key........