Knesset Committee Approves Publication of Operation Protective Edge Report

Jerusalem, 29 January, 2017 (TPS) -- The Knesset State Control subcommittee today (Sunday) approved publication of most of the State Comptroller’s Report into the 2014 Operation Protective Edge. Parts of the report will remain classified because they address in detail national security issues.

The report is expected to severely castigate Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, for failing to adequately prioitize the danger posed by the extensive  network of Hamas tunnels leading into Israel from Gaza. They are also criticized for not acting on credible IDF  assessments, made several months earlier, that war was likely over the summer.

Media reports last week painted a picture of a dysfunctional political echelon during the 50-day conflict in from June to August, 2014, which followed the abduction and murder of Eyal Yifrah, Gil-Ad Sha’ar and Naftali Fraenkel and a subsequent missile offensive from Gaza at Israeli communities around the country. Current coalition members and former IDF officers have criticized Netanyahu for failing to clearly define the mission’s goals.

Knesset State Control subcommittee Karin Elharar said that no date has been set for releasing the report.