State Comptroller Justice Micha Lindenstruass submitted his report on the State Ombudsman’s Office to the Knesset Audit Committee, adding the operations of the ombudsman’s office in 2009. A record number of complaints were received by the ombudsman, 13,000, representing a 20% increase from 2008.

The sharp increase resulted in the state comptroller releasing the largest report ever, over 1,500 pages, addressing the 13,000 complaints. It appears that 30% of the complaints are viewed as justifiable, and most were filed against Bituach Leumi, the National Insurance Agency, with 1,100 complaints. Next is Israel Police (750 complaints), Interior Ministry (440), Finance Ministry (405), Justice Ministry (400) and the Transportation Ministry (324).

In the category of the legitimate complaints, Israel Broadcasting and the Ministry of Transportation lead the list with 55%. They are followed by Egged (53%), Israel Postal Service (47%), Israel Police (43%), Haifa City Hall (39%) and Jerusalem City Hall (32%).

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)