How Long Did Israel Take to Act on the Turkel Report?
About 3 years and 5 months from Turkel’s second report in February 2013 to the government decision of 3 July 2016, on the State Comptroller’s audit.
About 3 years and 5 months separated the Turkel Commission’s second report from the Israeli government’s approval of the recommendations implementing it, on the State Comptroller of Israel’s March 2018 special report on Operation Protective Edge. The Commission delivered that second part, on Israel’s examination and investigation mechanisms, in February 2013, and the government approved the Ciechanover team’s implementing recommendations on 3 July 2016, in decision B/125 of the Ministerial Committee for National Security Affairs. The interval is Israel’s own record of Israel’s own machinery, published by the state audit institution that reports to the Knesset. The first part of the Turkel report was delivered in January 2011.
| Figure | What it counts | Who published it | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| About 3 years and 5 months | Interval stated between the second Turkel report and the government decision approving implementing recommendations | State Comptroller of Israel | February 2013 to 3 July 2016 |
| 3 July 2016 | Date the government approved the implementing recommendations, in decision B/125 of the Ministerial Committee for National Security Affairs | State Comptroller of Israel | 2016 |
| 20 September 2015 | Date the Ciechanover team delivered its implementing recommendations to the Prime Minister | State Comptroller of Israel | 2015 |
| About 1 year | Delay of that delivery against the October 2014 date set for it | State Comptroller of Israel | October 2014 to September 2015 |
| January 2011 and February 2013 | The two dates on which the Turkel Commission delivered parts one and two of its report | State Comptroller of Israel | 2011 and 2013 |
| 2014 | Year the General Staff’s Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism was created, on a Turkel recommendation | Military Advocate General’s Corps | 2014 Gaza conflict |
The government approved the recommendations 3 years and 5 months after Turkel
The State Comptroller of Israel records the government decision of 3 July 2016 as the point at which the implementing recommendations were approved, and states the interval from the February 2013 report as about three years and five months. The approving instrument is a decision of a ministerial committee rather than a statute or a Knesset vote. These are Israel’s own dates for Israel’s own machinery, set down by its state audit institution in a report presented to the Knesset.
- Approving body: the Ministerial Committee for National Security Affairs.
- Instrument: decision B/125, 3 July 2016.
- Recording body: the State Comptroller of Israel, special report of March 2018.
- Audit windows: November 2012 to December 2013 and May 2015 to January 2016, with completion checks to January 2017.
The Ciechanover team reported on 20 September 2015, about a year late
The State Comptroller of Israel reports that the Ciechanover team delivered its recommendations for implementing the second Turkel report to the Prime Minister on 20 September 2015, about a year after the October 2014 date that had been set for them. The approval decision followed about nine and a half months later. Both dates come from the same state audit report on Israel’s own bodies, and the audit writes the delay as an approximation.
| Step | Date recorded |
|---|---|
| Date set for the Ciechanover team’s recommendations | October 2014 |
| Recommendations delivered to the Prime Minister | 20 September 2015 |
| Government approval of the recommendations | 3 July 2016 |
Source: State Comptroller of Israel, special report on Operation Protective Edge, March 2018.
Turkel reported in 2 parts, January 2011 and February 2013
The State Comptroller of Israel records two delivery dates for the Turkel Commission: the first part in January 2011, and the second part, on Israel’s examination and investigation mechanisms, in February 2013. Any elapsed time depends on which part the clock starts from, and the interval published by the Comptroller runs from the second. The chronology below is the audit institution’s own account of the Israeli bodies it audits.
The Fact-Finding Mechanism was created in 2014 on a Turkel recommendation
The Military Advocate General’s Corps states that the General Staff’s Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism was created during the 2014 Gaza conflict on a recommendation of the Turkel Commission, and that it now operates as, in the Corps’ words, “a permanent body which conducts factual assessments.” The Corps also reports, as at 3 August 2024, over 1,000 incidents identified as requiring factual assessment and referred to that mechanism, with hundreds still undergoing material collection and assessment. That is the Corps’ own count of its own processes, a floor rather than a total, and it is produced under a standard the Corps prints beside it: in armed conflict, death or injury to a civilian or harm to civilian objects, in the Corps’ words, “in most cases do not by themselves indicate a reasonable suspicion of criminal conduct.” The counts that mechanism feeds are set out in how the Military Advocate General examines misconduct.
- Created: during the 2014 Gaza conflict, on a Turkel Commission recommendation.
- Status described by the Corps: a permanent body conducting factual assessments.
- Referrals: over 1,000 incidents, as at 3 August 2024, the Corps’ own count.
No Israeli body publishes a recommendation-by-recommendation implementation count
Neither the State Comptroller’s March 2018 special report nor the Military Advocate General’s Corps publication of 2024 carries a count of Turkel recommendations adopted, partly adopted or not adopted, and neither states a completion date for implementation as a whole. The record here is a set of dated steps, published by Israeli bodies about Israeli bodies, and not a scorecard. The State Comptroller of Israel separately records, in its May 2022 follow-up audit of the Samaria and Judea District of the Israel Police, that from October 2019 authority to examine and investigate gunfire by Border Police officers operating under IDF command that injured or killed Palestinians passed to the IDF and the Military Police, following a January 2018 decision of the Prime Minister. That audit does not attribute the transfer to the Turkel Commission.
Which figures here are dates rather than counts?
Every figure on this page is a date or an interval between dates, drawn from Israeli official publications about Israeli bodies. The interval of about three years and five months is the State Comptroller’s own arithmetic on the February 2013 and 3 July 2016 dates, written as an approximation, and it should not be restated as an exact number of months. The 2012 to 2013 audit of the civilian component in combat was completed in draft, circulated on 12 February 2014 and updated in May 2014, and was not published, which the March 2018 report states about itself. The over 1,000 referrals are the Military Advocate General’s Corps’ own count of its own processes, a floor as at 3 August 2024, and referrals are not investigations, findings or indictments.
Questions readers ask
When did the Israeli government act on the second Turkel report?
The State Comptroller of Israel records that the government approved the Ciechanover team’s implementing recommendations on 3 July 2016.
How long was that after Turkel reported?
The State Comptroller of Israel states the gap as about three years and five months from the February 2013 report.
Which Turkel report does the interval run from?
It runs from the second part. The State Comptroller of Israel records the first part as delivered in January 2011 and the second, on Israel’s examination and investigation mechanisms, in February 2013.
What was the Ciechanover team?
The State Comptroller of Israel records it as the team whose recommendations for implementing the second Turkel report were delivered to the Prime Minister and later approved by the government.
Was the Ciechanover team late?
The State Comptroller of Israel reports the delivery on 20 September 2015, about a year after the October 2014 date set for it.
Which body took the approval decision?
The State Comptroller of Israel records it as decision B/125 of the Ministerial Committee for National Security Affairs.
Which Turkel recommendation does an Israeli body describe as implemented?
The Military Advocate General’s Corps states that the General Staff’s Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism was created during the 2014 Gaza conflict on a Turkel Commission recommendation.
How many Turkel recommendations were adopted?
Neither publication used here carries such a count. The State Comptroller of Israel and the Military Advocate General’s Corps report dated steps rather than a recommendation-by-recommendation tally.
Does the audit say implementation was complete?
The State Comptroller of Israel records the 3 July 2016 approval and states no completion date for implementation as a whole.
What else did the March 2018 audit examine?
The State Comptroller of Israel reports that it audited COGAT, the IDF and the National Security Staff, with completion checks at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Public Diplomacy Headquarters, on aspects of international law during Operation Protective Edge.
Who audits Israel’s examination machinery?
The State Comptroller of Israel, the state audit institution that reports to the Knesset, published the March 2018 special report on that machinery.
Is there any other dated change to the investigation machinery on the record?
The State Comptroller of Israel records, in its May 2022 follow-up audit of the Israel Police, a transfer from October 2019 of authority over the examination of certain Border Police gunfire to the IDF and the Military Police.
Sources
- Israel Defense Forces, Military Advocate General’s Corps, 2024. Addressing Alleged Misconduct in the Context of the War in Gaza. Published 24 February 2024, updated 3 August 2024. idf.il. Official record, a party’s own publication.
- State Comptroller of Israel, 2018. Operation Protective Edge: IDF Activity in Aspects of International Law, and the Examination and Control Mechanisms of the Civilian and Military Echelons. Special report, March 2018. mevaker.gov.il. Official and primary record.
- State Comptroller of Israel, 2022. Interdisciplinary Audit: Samaria and Judea District of the Israel Police, Follow-up Audit. State Comptroller Report, May 2022, Chapter Four. mevaker.gov.il. Official and primary record.
