The State Comptroller found that 10 years after the Freedom of Information Law was legislated, not enough has been done to implement it. About half of the authorities investigated do not make their administrative directives available for public inspection and do not publish information on how to submit requests for information or how to contact them. Publications on the subject are not readily available and are not kept up-to-date. The officials charge with implementing and enforcing the law in the authorities have not been adequately trained in its implementation. The report also found that most of the authorities that do not comply with the provisions of the Law are those dealing with social matters.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) would remind these authorities that the concealment of information from the public is characteristic of a totalitarian regime and inconsistent with the basic tenets of a democratic state. The Ministry of Justice, the body responsible for the Law’s implementation, must ensure that the various authorities are scrupulous about making information available to the public, and that there are effective and accessible means of obtaining information.
