The State Comptroller on Monday sent the findings of an interim report into the army's handling of the Home Front during last summer's war to the Knesset and the Israel Defense Forces.
The IDF Home Front Command chief Maj. Gen. Yitzhak Gershon petitioned the High Court to block the Knesset's State Committee from holding an open discussion of the report, which was expected to point to major failures, saying it would harm the state's security.
In the petition, Gershon's attorneys claim that the publication of the report may entail punitive measures, as penal law stipulates that whoever publishes a report prior to the time when it was due to be released faces a one-year prison sentence.
"The purpose of the report is to point to shortcomings in the surveyed bodies' performance and the need to correct them. Its purpose is not to trace the guilty parties and determine their fate," they added.
Gershon sent letters to State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss and Knesset legal advisor Nurit Elstein demanding the cancellation of the committee's discussion.
Gershon said the army should be given enough time to respond to the report's findings before legislators discuss it on Tuesday.
Elstein heeded Gershon's call and asked State Control Committee Chairman MK Zevulun Orlev (National Union-NRP) to delay the discussion. Orlev insisted the discussion would be held on Tuesday, as planned.
Thirty-nine Israeli civilians were killed in the 34 days of fighting during which Hizbullah fired rockets into civilian areas.
The army came under a hailstorm of criticism after the war for its failure to stop the rocket attacks and for not having prepared the civilian population for such attacks.
Some 300,000 northerners either fled their homes or spent over a month in shelters during the war.
Hanan Greenberg contributed to this report
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