Last update - 00:00 31/07/2007
State Control Cmte. members skip hearing on home front report
By Zvi Zrahiya, Haaretz Correspondent
Knesset State Control Committee Chairman Zevulun Orlev was the only one of the committee's 15 members to attend Tuesday's hearing on the state comptroller's report on the home front in the Second Lebanon War.
The National Union-National Religious Party MK had summoned dozens of representatives from the comptroller's office, the Public Security Ministry, the Israel Defense Forces, and additional agencies to the hearing.
Orlev has scheduled a series of committee hearings on the report's harsh findings, to be held during the current Knesset recess. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is scheduled to appear before the hearing at the beginning of September.
The committee chairman was harshly critical Tuesday of his fellow MKs' absence. "I have spoken about it with the state comptroller, retired judge Micha Lindenstrauss, and we are very unpleased," he said. "I intent to speak with the committee members, that they attended the future hearings."
Orlev also reiterated his threat that, should it become apparent that the government is not implementing the report's findings, he will push for the formation of a state commission of inquiry on the matter.
Although the coalition has an 8-7 majority in the committee, Labor MK Shelly Yachimovitch has said she would support the move, and oppose efforts to replace her with a different coalition MK.
Lindenstrauss said during Tuesday's hearing that one of the most important tests for the report is in the implementation. The comptroller added that his office and the State Control Committee must ensure that those who were criticized by the report are correcting the failures exposed by the report. He pointed out that his office has formed a special department to focus on that end.
"We must be certain that these aren't just statements that find themselves on shelves gathering dust," he said, adding that some of the findings that were published two weeks ago are in fact being implemented.
Public Security Minister Avi Dichter said the state must invest resources in order to prevent the home front from becoming the battle front. "Our job as a government is to ensure that the home front is the home front and that the battle front is the battle front," he said.