A new report by State Comptroller Yosef Shapira reviewing the government's decision-making process during Operation Protective Edge, fought in the Gaza Strip in 2014, sparked controversy Thursday after the criticism expressed in it was panned as biased and politically motivated. The review was ordered by the Knesset's State Control Committee in September 2014. The committee instructed Shapira to focus on the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet's work during the military campaign, as well as the military's response to the threat posed by Hamas terror tunnels, and homefront readiness. The report was compiled following interviews with cabinet members, military officials and other parties privy to cabinet discussions during the Gaza conflict, as well as a review of all cabinet minutes since early 2013. One source privy to the 70-page draft, leaked to the media despite being classified, said its findings were "worse than the Winograd Commission report." The Winograd Commission was a government commission of inquiry reviewing military engagement in the 2006 Second Lebanon War. In its report, the Winograd Commission leveled harsh criticism at key decision-makers. Shapira's draft criticizes mainly Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon and former IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, saying the three withheld much of the essential information necessary for proper decision-making from the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet during the military campaign, and also excluded cabinet members from much of the decision-making process itself. Sources familiar with the draft said it claims that in the months leading up to Operation Protective Edge, the threat posed by Hamas terror tunnels was presented to the cabinet "in a very general way." The report further criticized the military's lack of operational readiness to deal with scenarios involving terror tunnels. The draft report, classified as top secret, was sent to senior officials for review and comment, including Netanyahu, Ya'alon, Education Minister Naftali Bennett, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz, former Finance Minister Yair Lapid, former Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, former Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch, and former Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. The draft earned criticism from officials at the Prime Minister's Office. "We reject these findings outright. This report includes findings that are factually wrong. The campaign was conducted with full transparency and an unprecedented number of cabinet meetings," one official said. "This report reeks of political bias by a comptroller backed by former cabinet members, who are trying to ram the government from the benches of the opposition," he said. An associate of Ya'alon said, "This is outrageous -- the very fact that a classified draft was leaked in the first place, to the fact it was leaked before anyone had an opportunity to respond. The information this draft includes is detached from reality, it is factually incorrect, and whoever penned it clearly doesn't understand how the cabinet's decision-making process works." Commenting on the issue of Hamas terror tunnels, which were targeted during the operation, the defense official said, "Here too the report is detached from reality. Israel has been dedicating considerable resources to the issue of tunnels for years. Various forums, including the cabinet, have held multiple discussions on the matter. Anyone claiming it [the cabinet] didn't know or deal with this threat properly is deceiving the public. Anyone privy [to the intelligence available] understood the gravity of the tunnel threat and any attempt to describe it differently is charlatanism. This draft contains gross inaccuracies, to say the least, and lacks basic understanding of how the system works." The State Comptroller's Office responded with a statement saying, "Without addressing the content of the draft, it is the product of countless hours of work. The state comptroller's work adheres to strict professional standards." Former cabinet member Gideon Sa'ar criticized Netanyahu and Ya'alon's response to the draft on Friday, telling Channel 2 News that "The 50-day Gaza campaign was a failed one, and I said as much when I was a cabinet member. The way to overcome things is not to lash out at the critics." Lieberman criticized Netanyahu as well, telling Tel Aviv Radio that the prime minister was "shirking responsibility one again. The current leadership is incapable of making decisions." The chairman of Yisrael Beytenu slammed what he called "repetitive patterns of behavior that extend to every issue, including issues that are vital to Israel's existence. That's why I demanded Netanyahu resign -- he's incapable of making a decision." Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Thursday denied a motion filed by Zionist Union MK Eitan Cabel seeking to order Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit to investigate who leaked a secret military presentation, given to the cabinet and detailing the ramifications of a potential ground incursion during Operation Protective Edge, to the media. The presentation was leaked to Channel 2 News several weeks after the Gaza campaign concluded.
