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Crisis Over Olmert-Comptroller Clash, by Hana Levi Julian (Israel National News)
Zevulun Orlev, chairman of the Knesset’s State Control Committee: The report had been held up more than four months ‘due to the Prime Minister’s failure to cooperate.’”
Full Text;
State Comptroller and Ombudsman Micha Lindenstrauss is gearing up to publish the initial findings of his investigation into the Home Front situation during last summer’s war against Hizbullah, in spite of fierce resistance from the office of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert after he refused to appear at committee hearings.
Lindenstrauss is preparing a report on the state of the home front during the war against Hizbullah, while the Winograd Commission prepares its report on the mismanagement of the war itself.
Unlike Defense Minister Amir Peretz and other senior officials, Olmert did not appear in person for his questioning and asked for an extra month to prepare written responses. The report, said Knesset member Zevulun Orlev, chairman of the Knesset’s State Control Committee, had been held up more than four months “due to the Prime Minister’s failure to cooperate.”
The National Union / National Religious Party Knesset member accused Olmert of “unacceptable, unreasonable and unworthy behavior.” Orlev charged Olmert and his aides with actions which he said “conveys indifference and lack of concern to the State’s citizens as to their fate on the home front, if and when the next war takes place.” Likud Knesset Member Yuval Steinitz also attacked Olmert Sunday for his failure to cooperate with Comptroller Lindenstrauss, saying Olmert has abandoned the home front three times.
First, he said, Olmert failed to stop the Katyusha attacks on Israeli towns. Second, he failed to declare a state of war which would have helped give civilians the proper support. Finally, he said, Olmert is now also working against Lindenstrauss’s efforts to learn lessons from the war.
National Union Knesset Member Aryeh Eldad added his voice to the Prime Minister’s critics, saying, “He is prepared to be investigated only by the people whom he appointed – that is to say, the Winograd Commission” and not by Lindenstrauss.”
Knesset member and Meretz chairman Yossi Beilin echoed the sentiment, charging “Only a few weeks after appointing a justice minister …Olmert’s people, ministers and party officials are criticizing the state comptroller like no other government ever dared to.
Several MKs have demanded that the Home Front’s functioning during the war be investigated by a state inquiry which has legal power to summon witnesses and to punish officials who are found guilty of mismanagement.
Sources in Olmert’s office, meanwhile, had harsh criticism for Lindenstrauss, accusing the State Comptroller of overstepping his authority during his investigation. Olmert aides said Lindenstrauss strayed into Winograd territory with some of the questions he asked the Prime Minister.
Olmert’s staff also accused Lindenstrauss of publishing his report without including Olmert’s answers to the questions. They claimed that Lindenstrauss decided to publish his report at this time due to a desire for publicity and nothing more.
Kadima faction members said Olmert’s delays in responding to questions posed by the State Comptroller were due to his tight schedule, rather than a desire to abdicate responsibility for his conduct during the war. “The comptroller’s demand that the Prime Minister answer within two weeks questions formulated in three weeks is an unreasonable demand which casts doubt on whether [he] wants real answers, or answers aimed at pre-empting the Winograd Commission and gaining points in the media [and] public arena,” said Kadima Knesset member Yoel Hasson.
OC Home Front Petitions Court to Postpone War Report
State Comptroller Lindenstrauss: Report Drafts Leaked to Media by Bodies Mentioned in Reports
Excerpts;
“The state comptroller said in response to Ben Sasson’s letter that ‘it is a pity that the chairman of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, which should be supervising the government’s activities on behalf of the public, is cooperating with the attempt to harm criticism and its findings.
‘The State Comptroller’s Office did not present the draft of the State Comptroller’s Report to anyone, and the fact that the drafts contain more than 600 pages, some of them classified, are enough to make it clear that no journalist could have read them in the past week.
‘In any event, the State Comptroller’s Office has been battling leaks regarding the office’s confidential draft reports and has appealed to all newspaper and electronic media editors, stressing that these leaks are against Basic Law: State Comptroller, which imposes a jail term and a fine on those who publish the reports without the comptroller’s approval.'”
Lindenstrauss to Present Outline, Not Full Report
Olmert Refuses Purim Gifts of Families of Fallen Troops
Seven Months Later, Bomb Shelters Still Not Fixed
Israel’s Existence Gravely Endangered by Political and Military Elites
Time is of the Essence (Jerusalem Post Editorial)
“It must be assumed that in future wars Israel’s hinterland will become a primary target. To face this challenge effectively, the shortcomings in last summer’s defense of civilians must be studied urgently.”
“The well-being of the public is at stake. And that should have been, and now must be, the prime consideration in documenting and learning the lessons of last summer’s war and taking steps toward correcting the failures.”
Excerpts;
Lindenstrauss first wished to hear Olmert in person, thereby allowing him the right of rebuttal. Olmert refused, at which point Lindenstrauss submitted written queries. A three-week extension notwithstanding, Olmert failed to provide his answers. He now says he needs three additional weeks and that the comptroller reneged on previous understandings allowing him extra time.
Lindenstrauss’s office has denied the above claim and announced he will wait no longer. All others from whom the comptroller requested explanations supplied them – including Amir Peretz, Avi Dichter, Dan Halutz and Moshe Karadi.
The word from the Prime Minister’s Office is that Lindenstrauss is merely trying to beat the Winograd Commission’s report on the Lebanon conflict. Coalition chairman Avigdor Yitzhaki has gone further, asserting that Lindenstrauss “seeks to overtake Winograd and take credit for bringing down the government.”
The chairman of the State Control Committee, Zevulun Orlev (NRP), noted that “the interim report cannot wait and isn’t superfluous… We can never tell in this country when the next attack will come and must draw practical lessons from what happened to correct mistakes in time.”
Orlev is only too right. The interim report, originally earmarked for January, needs to be produced now. It must be assumed that in future wars Israel’s hinterland will become a primary target. To face this challenge effectively, the shortcomings in last summer’s defense of civilians must be studied urgently. From all indications, the comptroller has conducted a serious, penetrating investigation. Some 60 researchers on his staff have produced a 600-page dossier, divided into 18 chapters, which is scheduled to see light in full during August.
Tomorrow’s 8-page preview could be devastating for Olmert in that a particularly harsh bottom line might trigger a State Control Committee decision to establish the very state inquiry that Olmert sought to avoid to begin with. In this context, Olmert’s procrastinations are particularly worrisome. If his ministers had enough time to reply, it might reasonably be assumed, so did Olmert. The premier cannot delay the report by postponing the dispatch of his version.
Transparent government and proper accountability demand candid and timely disclosure from him. Anything else means handing the government the veto power to prevent publication of whatever it regards as adverse findings. Charging that a state comptroller who is doing his job is attempting a coup – the essence of Yitzhaki’s critique – is outrageous.
The IDF, too, is apparently unhappy with the narrow window afforded by Lindenstrauss for its response. Plainly, it would have been better for all, including the public, had the process leading up to delivery of the interim report incorporated greater cooperation.
But time here truly is of the essence. The well-being of the public is at stake. And that should have been, and now must be, the prime consideration in documenting and learning the lessons of last summer’s war and taking steps toward correcting the failures.
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