State Comptroller's interim report: reveals a long list of shortcomings - Netanyahu wasn't touched

The State Comptroller's interim report on the handling of the corona crisis reveals a long list of shortcomings that need treatment. However, it does not touch on the main failure: decision-making in the government and in the Corona Cabinet.
Even those who agree with Matanyahu Engelman's view that there is no room for personal criticism of decision-makers will find it difficult to justify the lack of criticism of decision-making processes. In doing so, the comptroller misses an opportunity for a thorough repair, and instead of going up to the government floor, he stays in the field clerks.
The subject of distance learning is a good example of this. In March, classes were discontinued for the first time, and the center of gravity of the educational activity shifted to distance learning. That school year has already ended and a new year has opened - but it turns out that even today the Ministry of Education has no idea how many students do not have computers or an Internet connection that allows distance learning. He does not even have a clear answer to the question of when he will have an answer to that question.
How can one make decisions about the distance learning of nearly two million students, without knowing how many of them do not have the equipment to do so? It turns out that it is possible. Fact - The government and the Corona Cabinet have been doing this for almost eight months. At the beginning of the crisis it was still possible to accept the lack of information, but two months after the opening of the second school year of the Corona it is a real failure. The critic points to him - but does not go down to his roots.
The use of the positions of the General Security Service after the cellular devices of Israeli citizens is an equally good (or bad) example. One of the auditor's recommendations is that the Security Service and the Ministry of Health work in coordination, so that in addition to examining the locations by technological means, there will also be a thorough and in-depth epidemiological investigation that will include face-to-face questioning. This is such a desirable recommendation that it is not clear how it has not been thought of to date. But reading the report, it turns out that they actually did.
On March 22, just five days after the General Security Service began operating as part of the fight in Corona, the deputy head of the service asked the Ministry of Health to clarify the limitations of the GSS data accuracy and the need for a supplementary Ministry of Health investigation seven months later. And the comptroller was forced to make the exact same recommendation. Was the original recommendation of the deputy head of the GSS brought to the attention of the ministers and the cabinet? If so, why was it not implemented? In the absence of an examination of the decision-making process, these questions also remain unanswered.
Contrary to claims often made by the critic's critics, Engelman is a serious man and does not try to cover up anyone or whitewash anything. He sincerely believes that personal auditing is ineffective, and to reinforce his point, he has shown that this is how many auditing institutions around the world operate. He may be right, but in the interim report he went one step further, and did not address the decision-making process at all. This is a point where the comptroller is most needed, because the minutes of the cabinet and corona cabinet meetings remain confidential.
Still, keep in mind that this is only an interim report. Over the next year, the full report on the government's conduct in the crisis is to be published, which, according to officials in the Comptroller's Office, will also examine the decision-making processes. He will have to dive into questions like whether political or sectoral considerations led the ministers, and whether the opinion of the professionals was rejected from them.
It will not be easy, and it's probably not the criticism Engelman planned to make when he took office as State Comptroller - but the magnitude of the crisis necessitates going in that direction. The visitor will have to be another Israeli whose plagues disrupted his plans. It must be said honestly that the State Comptroller justifies the appointment of Prime Minister Netanyahu. He justified the appointment and did not drag Netanyahu into the cauldron of criticism. It may be appropriate to treat the report in a professional manner, but there may be no discussion on how to make decisions especially when in many cases political pressures have prevented professional decision making and as an example one can take the plan of Corona Crisis Supervisor Professor Roni Gamzo. His plan, known as the traffic light plan, has not been implemented to date due to ultra-Orthodox pressure.