Israel's state comptroller slams army preparedness

Israel’s state comptroller has criticised the Israeli army’s failures on defence related issues; Israel Today reported on Thursday.

State Comptroller Joseph Shapira said in his 2014 report that the army’s failures include the navy’s top Flotilla 13 commando unit, the army’s reserve call up system and defences against possible chemical attacks.

Shapira said the Israeli army has failed to develop a concrete plan to deal with chemical attacks including the lack of training to deal with such attacks and lack of equipment allocated to face such a challenge.

He criticised the army’s plans to protect gas exploration sites off the coast of Israel pointing out that the army has not drawn up the plans for this yet.

“In the absence of a decision by the security cabinet, the army and the defence ministry will not be able to defend these sites that are likely to be targeted,” the report read.

The comptroller’s report noted that the reserves’ call-up system has numerous failures including low preparedness and lack of reservist training, lack of necessary equipment and poor mechanisms to call up reserves under fire.