BICOM

Israel’s State Comptroller has released a report, which among a number of issues, accused the government of confused efforts combatting campaigns to boycott and delegitimise Israel.

State Comptroller Yosef Shapira’s report, published yesterday, covers a wide range of issues, critiquing Israeli governance. It reserved one of its sharpest criticisms for the government’s work to counter the international campaign to boycott Israeli goods, companies,  academics and institutions. It suggested that the division of labour between the Foreign Ministry, Ministry of Strategic Affairs and the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs is ineffective.

The report said that “Despite the extensive authority given to the Ministry of Strategic Affairs starting in 2013” it had not utilised its budget nor reported “substantial achievements”. Meanwhile, Shapira said that the Foreign Ministry “had no broad long-term strategy”. He called for the security cabinet to “evaluate the existing functional mode”.

Another focus of Shapira’s report was the section on visits abroad by Netanyahu and his family, during his time as Finance Minister and a regular MK between 2003 and 2005, that were often funded by outside groups and individuals, without being properly reported to the relevant parliamentary body as gifts. In the report, Shapira said that the visits “created the appearance of a conflict of interest”.

Shapira also suggested that the Attorney General’s Office deliberately stalled on an original investigation, in order that the issue would exceed the ten-year statute of limitations and be inadmissible in court. Consequently, Shapira has sent the latest material to current Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to weigh and decide whether there is cause for a criminal investigation. Mandelblit pledged that the allegations “must be inspected without delay, in a direct and professional manner.”

Netanyahu’s office released a statement saying the State Comptroller’s report indicated that a “mountain was made out of a molehill”. The statement also said: “There was no conflict of interest in Netanyahu’s trips, no double-billing and nothing illegal.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu has previously faced allegations of improper spending at his official residence in Jerusalem.