THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

C

Israel Ombudsman-Comptroller
Tackles A Variety of Problems

By JAMES LEWIN

World Zionist Press

1

Question: If a private Is-
raeli citizen runs into trou-
ble with the government,
where can he turn for help?
Answer: The ombudsman's
office.
During the past year
7,857 Israelis asked the om-
budsman's office for assis-
tance. The fact that this was
almost 1,000 more than the
previous year was seen as
indication that snore
ople are becoming aware
I. their rights, within the
context of Israeli democ-
racy, to try and put things
right . through the om-
budsman.
For instance, income tax
can be a difficult problem,
not only to pay, but often —
with the bewildering
bureaucratic blizzard of
forms — to properly report,
even with the best of inten-
tions. The government
understands the problem
better than anyone else, and
therefore has opened in-
come tax counseling offices
at various places around the
country.
A resident of Rehovot
needed help filing his tax
report for 1978. The
closest tax counselor, he
found, was in Rishon le
Zion. According to adver-
tisements of the Income
Tax Commission, the
office was supposed to be
open to the public from
Sunday-Thursday, 3:30-
6:30 p.m. However, the
first time he arrived at
the Rishon le Zion office
at 4:30 p.m., the man from
Rehovot found a "closed"
sign on the door.
He returned aweek later,
at 6:15, and was informed
that the counselor had left a
few _minutes before. The
next day he returned and
again found the . office
closed, this time, according
to the sign on the door, due
to the counselor's illness.
With the deadline loom-
ing on his taxes, the man
from Rehovot finally re-
turned and found the office
open. However the tax
counselor advised him to re-
turn the following week be-
cause there were already
three other people waiting.
Having reached the end of
his patience, the citizen
from Rehovot complained to
the ombusdman, noting the
loss of time and money be-
cause of all the traveling he
had been obliged to under-
take.
Following investigation,
111p, turned out that except for
e day he was absent due to
1 lness, the counselor had,
in fact, been working but
had huhg the "closed" sign
on the door because of the
long line of people waiting
to see him. The Income Tax
Commission agreed the
complainant was right and
announced that the next
year it would open an addi-
tional office in Rehovot and
add staff to the office in
Rishon le Zion.
In another example, a
complainant came to the
ombudsman demanding

interest on a bill which he
had waited for over four
months to collect from
the Ministry of Labor and
Social Affairs for school
supplies he had delivered
to an institution for chil-
dren. The ombudsman's
office investigated, found
the complainant jus-
tified, and acted to the ef-
fect that he was compen-
sated for the delay in
payment.

The ombudsman's office
is even prepared to tackle
the police force. One com-
plainant, for instance, pro-
tested to the ombudsman
that he had been arrested
and detained without jus-
tification for a period of 14
days and his personal be-
longings siezed and held for
a month.
'What apparently hap-
pened- is that the innocent
pedestrian wandered into
the way of the authorities,
hot in the pursuit of a
sophisticated burglary ring
specializing in the expen-
sive electronic equipment.
The complainant made the
mistake of buying a vid-
eotape machine at secon-
dhand "bargain" prices
without knowing, he
claimed, that it was stolen
property. The police sus-
pected him of being part of
the gang they were track-
ing.
The concept of the om-
budsman originated in
Sweden at the beginning of
the 19th Century. Today, no
less than 30 democratic
countries make use of the
popular system that- allows
the voices of ordinary citi-
zens to be heard. Last Oc-
tober, the Second Interna-
tional Ombudsman's Con-
ference was held in
Jerusalem, bringing to-
gether government om-
budsmen from all over the
free world.
In association with the
ombudsman's office,
which deals with the
complaints of individu-
als, the comptroller's re-
port surveys the entire
workings of all govern-
ment agencies and sub-
mits a yearly report of
voluminous detail,
cataloguing all the faults
and failings of the gov-

Egypt Economy
May Darken

CAIRO (ZINS) — Egypt
has had a major reversal of
its balance of payments
problems. Oil revenues
have increased from $300
million three years ago to $3
billion.
The Suez Canal and
tourism each bring in $800
million and an additional $3
billion is sent to Egypt by its
2.5 million citizens working
abroad.
However, analysts be-
lieve that the currency
surplus may be wiped out-in
two or three years. Gov-
ernment food subsidies
amount to $3 billion and
Egy-pt's population is grow-
ing at the rate of one million
every 10 months.,

.

ernment, in a flat, factual
style. The comptroller's
report serves as an arm of
the Knegset, to supervise
the executive branch. It
also provides the daily
newspapers with a yearly
quota of sensational
headlines "exposing"
government inefficiency
and mismanagement.
Dr. Yitzhak Nebenzahl is
both comptroller and om-
budsman for the state of Is-
rael. He and his staff are
perhaps the closest institu-
tional equivalent to what,
in an individual human be-
ing, is known as the con-
science. The comptroller's
report demands that gov-
ernment institutions in-
crease their sensitivity to
defects in their working.
The 30th annual report —
the most recently released
— itemized serious weak-
nesses in the government's
overall performance, in-
cluding poor planning of the
budget, inefficiency in col-
lecting taxes, negative as-
pects of public services, and
even rebuked the army for
maladministration, waste
and other failings.
Despite the government's
repeated decisions to cut the
number of public servants,
the report noted, the
number of state employees
has increased by over 30
percent between 1970 and
1977. Furthermore, there
has been a continuous de-
cline in the level of qualifi-
cations of public sector em-
ployees.
It is Nebenzahl's hope
that as more and more pri-
vate individuals become
aware of the services of the
ombudsman, increasing
pressure may be brought
within the Knesset to im-
plement the recom-
mendations the comptroller
makes for a better and more
responsive government.

Friday, April 11 1981 27

,

Foe of Assad

CAIRO (ZINS) — King
Hussein of Jordan has ac-
cused President Hafez
Assad of Syria of trying to
polarize the Middle East
along East-West lines and
of trying to "inter-
nationalize the Zionist-
Arab struggle."
Hussein said that Assad's
efforts could make the
region "explode.." Hussein
blamed Assad for the defeat
of the Egyptian and Jorda-
nian armies in 1967 and
"the defeat of the Syrian
army in 1973."

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