State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the defense establishment in August 14, 2023 of severe border security negligence, and none of the involved parties took any action to fix the situation prior to the October 7 disaster.
The disclosure was made alongside Englman’s expected issuing of a new report on Tuesday which slammed border security on the northern border during the mid-2023 period.
Although the criticisms themselves were made regarding the northern border, and the reality there has radically changed post the 2023-2024 conflict with Hezbollah, the fact is that if Netanyahu, the IDF, and then defense minister Yoav Gallant had taken the criticisms seriously, it is possible Hamas’s October 7 invasion could have been prevented.
Nearly all of the problems Englman found on the northern border existed on the southern border as well at the time, and in many ways, they were even worse there.
What change will the disclosure make?
In the defense establishment, the impact of the latest disclosure may be limited given that Gallant was fired on November 5, IDF chief Herzi Halevi resigned on March 5, and Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar is expected to be ousted in the coming weeks or months.
But for Netanyahu, the latest allegations could be a lightning-rod for at least two reasons.
For one, it presents a scenario where he had warnings of severe border security problems from a serious authority separate from the IDF and Shin Bet, who he has said misled him about the security situation.
In other words, it will be harder for him to claim that there was no way for him to know how bad the border security situation was.
Second, Englman has stuck his neck out to defend Netanyahu at a number of key points over the years, for which much of the center-left have turned on him as a “rogue” loyalist comptroller who ignores his duty to criticize the prime minister.
The fact that he, and not your usual officials who regularly slam Netanyahu, is attacking the prime minister for ignoring the border security warnings, gives the issue a flavor of greater credibility and of being nonpartisan.
The content of the report itself is embargoed until 4:00 p.m. Tuesday.