The state observer is the main official in Israel On monitoring its various devices and bodies to ensure control over public money and accountability, and elect it Israeli Knesset (Parliament) through a secret vote, and his term is 7 years.
The Israeli state observer is working with a mandate from the Knesset without any relationship with the government or the head of state by choosing it, in order to examine and monitor their various work, practices, in an effort to achieve a basic central goal that is “controlling public money and taking responsibility for performance.”
Approval of the position
On May 18, 1949, the Knesset approved the state observer law in its first form, which then stipulated that the head of state to the observer be appointed based on the recommendations of a committee from the Knesset. In 1958, a new law was issued that granted Knesset members the right to elect the observer.
In 1977, the Constitution, Law and Judiciary Committee in the Israeli Knesset published the draft basic law to regulate the work of the state observer and determine its duties and responsibilities, as well as the way to hold it accountable.
The proposal was discussed in the eighth Knesset in 1977, but it was not ratified, and the Israeli government submitted the draft law again in January 1985, and the Knesset approved it on February 15, 1988.
The state observer has been working since 1971 as “Secretariat of Grievances”, and it is a title to file a complaint to anyone who was harmed by an Israeli general body.
State observer tasks
Article Two of the Israeli Law determined the mission of the state’s general observer, which is:
- Monitor the economic situation, property, funds, state obligations and administrative apparatus, as well as monitor the work of government ministries.
- Monitor the work of local authorities and other bodies or institutions according to what is imposed by the law.
- Checking the legality of the business and activities of the institutions subject to its control, represented in the ethics and etiquette of work and the functioning of the administrative system in accordance with the instructions and orders issued by the Government Services and Employment Department.
- Receiving the public complaints as “the Commissioner of the Republic’s Complaints”, with regard to the bodies covered by its reports or officials working in it.
- He has the right to recommend the head of the Knesset to impose financial penalties on the parties that have not been active in a proper way, according to his role, supervising the implementation of the Parties Financing Law.
- Examine the expenses and incomes of the blocs and parties represented in the Knesset, whether in their current accounts or during election campaigns.
- The ministers and their deputies must present to him annually a statement about their income, property, and capital in their possession, work and additional tasks.
- Ensure that deputies and ministers adhere to the duties and caveats imposed on them.
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In order for the state observer to be able to perform his duties, Article 3 of the law granted him a broad authority to obtain information from the control bodies, as it states that “the body subject to the monitoring of the state observer must provide the observer without delay, upon his request, with information, documents, explanations and any other articles he deems necessary.”
The observer provides his reports to the head of the Knesset and the head of the government control committee in the Knesset, and before the publication of the report, it is submitted to the Chairman of the Ministerial Control Committee and the bodies subject to it.
Its reports and the conclusions and recommendations it contained do not bear the status of the authority monitored or the governmental and official official to which the report is exposed. But when suspicions of criminal violations appear, the state observer submits a recommendation to the government’s judicial advisor to examine suspicions and make the final decision on how to address them.
Nomination and caveats
The law related to the election of the state observer states that any Israeli has the right to run for this position, provided that he obtains support and support at least 10 members of the Knesset.
According to Israeli law, the state observer from the Knesset is elected with its entirety, through a secret polling.
The Israeli law places several prohibitions before the state’s general observer, namely:
- Not to be a political or partisan active while performing his duties.
- He should not take a position or a job among those subject to his observation.
- Not working at any other jobs at all while performing his duties.
Insulation
On July 26, 2005, Article 13 related to the dismissal of the state observer was modified, as the approval of a majority of three quarters of the Knesset was required, and it was decided that his salary be determined by a decision issued by a committee of the Knesset.
Also, according to the law, the state observer may be dismissed from his position except in one of the following cases:
- If he becomes unable to perform his duties permanently for health reasons.
- By a decision taken by the majority of Knesset members, according to a procedure determined by law.
- Because of the inappropriate behavior of his position.
If the observer is unable to perform his duties, he appoints a deputy for him in a manner and a period of time determined by law.
As for the duration of his work course, it is 7 years not extended, according to the amendment that was introduced to the law in 1998, as previously 5 years were renewable for one additional period with the approval of the majority of the Knesset members.
To ensure his independence from the executive, the budget of the state’s general observer’s office is determined on the proposal of the state observer himself of the Knesset Finance Committee, and not to the Ministry of Finance.
The State Observer Foundation works in a large device of employees and specialists, distributed in work specialties in accordance with the institution or the body that he supervises its observation in a year, because it provides an annual report on the institutions or ministries that monitor its work.
The state observer has been in Israel since 1949:
- Zegfid Mouzis (1949-1961).
- Isaac Nafntsal (1961-1982).
- Isaac Tunic (1982-1987).
- Yaqoub Malas (1987-1988).
- Marsam bin Borat (1988-1998).
- Elyzer Goldberg (1998-2005).
- Micah Lindashros (2005 – 2012).
- Youssef Shapira (2012-2019).
- Matanho Ingelal (2019).
The most prominent corruption reports
Since the establishment of the Office of the General Observer in Israel, many corruption cases have been revealed in which large political figures were condemned, and often these reports have raised a state of controversy in Israel.
- Arieh Deri
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On June 20, 1993, an indictment was presented against the Minister of the Interior at that time, Arieh Deri, and included two charges of bribery and 3 crimes of fraud and betrayal of trust, after a report by the state observer at the time, Mariam bin Porat.
On September 8, 1993, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled to isolate the Minister of the Interior from his post, and after this decision, Darai resigned from the Ministry of Interior and waived his immunity, which was raised after 18 days of ruling.
On March 17, 1999, an Israeli court condemned most of the charges in the report and sentenced him to 4 years in prison and a fine of 250,000 shekels.
In April 2006, the then Israeli Prime Minister Ihud Olmert collided with the report of the state observer Micah Lindnchestos, who accused him of criminal acts when he was Minister of Trade in a government Ariel Sharon.
According to the report, Olmert carried out a special interest work that involves misleading and abusing credit in the case of establishing a factory in the town of Dimouna.
The state observer indicated that Olmert’s personal lawyer was a representative of the factory owner in promoting the industrial project in Dimona.
Olmert also stipulated dozens of his associates, including 10 in prestigious jobs, despite not having the required professional competencies, amid ignoring the old employees with certificates and experiences, according to the report.
On March 8, 2007, the Israeli state observer also criticized Olmert related to the failures of the Israeli authorities to take care of the internal front during Lebanon war That broke out in July 2006.
- Sahi Hengabi
In September 2014, the Israeli Minister of Internal Security, Tzahi Hungby, resigned, after the state observer issued a report accused of exploiting his ministerial powers, especially political appointments he issued when he was the Environment Minister between 1999 and 2003.
I was charged with corruption, forgery, and the exploitation of confidence and the right to the right while working at the Ministry of Environment.
On February 28, 2017, the state observer then Youssef Shapira published his report on the failures of Israeli political and military leaders in dealing with a danger. Palestinian resistance tunnels in Gaza StripBefore and during the aggression in July and August 2014.
The report, consisting of 180 pages, criticized Israeli political and military leaders who took over during the war, led by the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -Required For the International Criminal Court– And his defense minister then Moshe YaalonIn addition to the chief of staff Ghantis Network And former head of the Military Intelligence Division, Aviv Kochavi.
The state observer said in his report that Israeli army It was delayed in dealing with tunnels, while half of them had penetrated the “border”, as the army and the Public Security Agency have long notified before the “steadfast cliff” war that air strikes alone against tunnels will not lead to their destruction, not effective, as well as they hinder the activities of the ground forces.
- War 2021
On July 27, 2021, the State Observer report revealed a major insufficiency in the work of the police and internal security devices (The Shin Bet) During the confrontation of the events that broke out in Israel after the Israeli army launched the “Wall Guard” operation in May 2021.
The report emphasized that the Israeli police failed to “prepare themselves for the confrontations that broke out in the mixed cities between the Arabs and the Jews in Israel, and that there was not sufficient intelligence collection or coordination with the Shin Bet.”
The report concluded “the necessity of obliging Israeli officials, at all levels, to enhance intelligence, transfer information, strengthen the reserve formations of the border guards, and organize the work of the police and the Shabak better.”
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- War 2023
On May 1, 2024, the state observer in Israel, Matanhou, Inglaman, announced the start of an investigation into the behavior of the Israeli army during the events of October 7, 2023, adding that “Israelis have the right to obtain answers to the failure of failure.”
Prime Minister Netanyahu responded to the Inglamel declaration, saying that “what the state observer is doing is an unnecessary and unnecessary opposition in wartime.”
On September 3 of the same year, Inglalaman criticized the political and security levels “for their failure to account and investigate the responsibility of security failure for the October 7, 2023 attack on Gaza cover settlements“.
“In Israel, there is no accountability, there is no objectivity, examination, or objectivity, not at the political or security levels,” Inglaman said at the Legal Conference of the Lawyers Syndicate in Tel Aviv.
Inglamel camel, in a letter he sent to the Israeli Chief of Staff at that time Hervi HaleviThe Israeli army committed actions that he described as “dangerous” and is harmful to the investigation of the events of October 7, and leads to “frustrating the disclosure of the truth”, as he put it.
The letter touched on the behavior of the director of the Chief of Staff Office during the audit process in 12 events related to events.
On November 21, 2024, the Israeli army informed the Supreme Court that it was ready to allow the state observer to investigate these 12 cases.
The performance of the Israeli army during the events was among the issues that the state and army observer agreed to investigate, especially that took place in the “Nova Music Party” in the settlement of Raim, adjacent to the sector, as well as “issuing a license to hold the ceremony and the absence of the concept of national security and evacuating the wounded to hospitals and activities of the internal front to evacuate the population.”
On May 12, 2025, the State Control Committee held a discussion in the Israeli Knesset, with the participation of Inge concluded about the investigations into the events of October 7.
The session, which was attended by members of the Israeli families and the dead, witnessed a state of controversy, and included accusations of Engoelman of his opposition to the formation of a government investigation committee in the events.
- Breaking high cost
On April 3, 2025, State Observer Inglaman criticized the Israeli government against the backdrop of the high cost of living in Israel, and called on it to move urgently to reduce the cost of living.
“Netanyahu and his minister must have Smotrich To take immediate procedures to reduce the cost of living and correct the deficiencies that appeared in the reports of the General Observer on this topic.
He added that “dealing with this issue is very important, especially in wartime, the increase in tax burdens, and the high interest rates imposed on the Israelis.”
Source: Israeli press + Websites