The State Comptroller’s report, released on Tuesday, found that a series of issues with the conduct of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Central Unit for Enforcement and Investigative Affairs enabled the illegal transfer of goods between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
The report said these problems include illegal activities, as well as inadequate infrastructure and staffing issues, making it difficult to prevent smuggling, black market activity and animal abuse.
From 2020 to 2022, 92% of inspectors within the force failed to meet targets that define whether they are on the job.
The report found that force inspectors were not properly appointed or authorized to enforce the laws that the force was tasked with enforcing, and that 89% of force inspectors carried out searches and detentions without proper authority. It was revealed that there was.
The report said that between 2018 and 2022, only NIS $23 million in fines were imposed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
There are serious problems with the behavior of unit personnel.
According to the inspector general’s findings, approximately 12.5% of workers who signed conflict of interest agreements did not comply with the agreements. In one example of such a failure, an inspector who was not authorized to deal with cattle in any capacity completed his 70 actions related to cattle, including a survey of the cattle’s surroundings.
Between 2001 and June 2023, 54 complaints were received against approximately 38% of the force’s workforce, with 39% of the complaints against management. Of the complaints received, 31% were found to have merit and resulted in a conviction or disciplinary action.
The misconduct was part of the reason the force’s intelligence division was shut down and then reopened with an ineffective skeletal team, the report said. According to the report, information collected in 2022 has decreased by 85% compared to 2016. Thousands of eggs smuggled into the trunk of a car. (Credit: Police Spokesperson Unit)
Additionally, only 21% of the information collected from early 2022 to mid-2023 was acted upon. Despite the unit handling smuggling points in Seamline and Bedouin villages, the intelligence unit’s staff do not speak Arabic.
In addition to issues with staff conduct, the report found that the checkpoints where produce was sent did not have adequate infrastructure in place. Furthermore, the department, Israeli tax authorities, and checkpoint authorities do not coordinate properly or share information.
These failures have created a potentially dangerous situation for public health.
Approximately 33,000 tons of plant products are imported from PA, representing about 1.5% of the plant products consumed annually in Israel. This produce passes through one of his five checkpoints.
Approximately 40% of plant product samples collected from PA contained unusual pesticide residues, the report said. In a further fraud, the produce was not held while awaiting test results, so it is likely that products from which defective samples were taken were brought to Israel and distributed on the market.
In 2023, approximately 97% of deliveries of chickens, chicks, and hatched eggs to Pennsylvania were not recorded by the force.
More than half (57%) of the meat imported into Pennsylvania through Israeli ports may not have made it to Pennsylvania, the report said. This means the meat may end up on the black market, potentially putting public health at risk, as it is sold without regulation at any stage of the supply chain.
The Minister and Director-General of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development must act to make significant changes to the force’s priorities, management and work structure, and seek to end repeated violations by staff, the report concludes. Ta.
