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Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (file)
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| By israelinsider staff March 6, 2007 |
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State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss met with the Knesset State Control Committee on Tuesday to discuss his interim report into the IDF's handling of the home front during last summer's war in Lebanon and said the report will be "very incisive, and is liable to anger many people."
Lindenstrauss slammed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for failing to respond to a series of questions about the government's success in meeting the home front's needs, sent to Olmert after he refused to testify in person.
According to Lindenstrauss, every other government official and IDF officer asked to testify, agreed to do so and testified fully.
He said, "I regret to tell you, members of the Knesset, that to this day, as I appear before you, we have yet to receive the answers to the questionnaire that we expected. During that same period, the prime minister appeared before the Winograd Committee, and I do not see any excuse or reason why the material for the questionnaire that should be sent to the Comptroller should be delayed."
Earlier Tuesday, Lindenstrauss agreed not to present the investigation's preliminary findings during his testimony before the committee, following Attorney General Mazuz's request.
Lindenstrauss' agreement to refrain from revealing the information kept the issue from escalating further, since the IDF had already submitted a petition to the High Court demanding that he not be allowed to reveal the information.
If the court had ruled on the IDF petition, and rejected it, the IDF Home Front command was expected to tell the panel later that Lindenstrauss' findings contained many errors, Haaretz reported.
Lindenstrauss told the committee Tuesday that the investigation would cover eleven key issues, including the evacuation of vulnerable populations during the war and preparations to prevent incidents involving hazardous materials.
The State Prosecutor's Office informed the High Court that the Knesset State Control Committee does not have the authority to discuss the findings of the investigation and may only discuss the comptroller's investigatory process.
The statement read, "the panel's request of the comptroller to deliver the main points of the interim report is a decision made without authority, since the section of the law on which the panel's request is based, pertains to the comptroller's work and not to reports or findings pertaining to the subjects of the inquest." |
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