The CEOs fire back: the mole affair at the Ministry of Agriculture escalates

22 CEOs of ministries in the government sent the Ombudsman and the Civil Service Commissioner a letter in which they support the CEO of the Ministry of Agriculture Naama Kaufman Pess after the attacks by the Secretary General of the Israel Farmers' Association Avshalom Willan: "We have crossed a red line."

Whelan: "It's strange that she signs in support of an alleged criminal act"

Liat Ron

12/09/2022

Monday, September 12, 2022, 11:26 am

• Share on Facebook

• Share on WhatsApp

• Share on Twitter

• Share by email

• Share in general

• Comments

  Comments

In the video: two smuggling attempts at the Allenby crossing were revealed - of predatory fish and of seeds in coffee (photo: Ministry of Agriculture)

A step up in the case of "the mole in the Ministry of Agriculture", which was published for the first time in Vala!

money and revealed correspondence between the Secretary General of the Israel Agricultural Federation, Avshalom Willen, and Zvika Cohen, senior vice president of the Ministry of Agriculture, who advised Willen against the Ministry of Agriculture, during the negotiations on the agricultural reform, in order to delay and thwart it.

In a letter sent last night (Sun. ) to the Ombudsman and the State Service Commissioner, which is signed by 22 CEOs of government ministries, the CEOs protest the fierce attack that Willen is conducting against the CEO of the Ministry of Agriculture, Naama Kaufman Pess, in the media, since the publication in Walla!: "We CEOs The ministries make it clear that we have crossed a red line that we refuse to accept. We stand behind our CEO and feel disgusted by the campaign being waged against her for her professional duties.

"The existence of differences of opinion and administrative challenges, which it is our duty to address, cannot be a reason for a personal and planned attack against the CEO of a government ministry with the aim of discouraging him from his public mission for the State of Israel.

Her integrity, reliability and professionalism and each one of us stands firmly behind her."

The affair continues to unfold.

From the right: Naama Kaufman Pess, Avshalom Willan and Oded Forer (photo: photo editing, Miri Tzachi-Maariv, Niv Aharonson, Inbal Marmari)

Abu Willan did not remain liable and wrote in response on Twitter: "It is ridiculous that the director general of the Ministry of Internal Affairs signs other director generals for supporting an alleged criminal act, for which a complaint was filed with the Israel Police.

The supporting CEOs don't know the details of the case at all. No one is above the law. Wiretapping and invasion of privacy are criminal offenses. It's ridiculous that it even needs to be said."

He later sent a letter to the Prime Minister, Yair Lapid, adding that the CEOs' letter, "constitutes blatant political interference by the executive authority in the domain of the Israel Police, and an improper attempt to influence the investigation."

For those unfamiliar with the chain of events, we remind you that Cohen corresponded with Willan via WhatsApp messages during the discussions , in one of them he wrote worriedly: "They are calling me.

They want me to leave the tour and come to a personal conversation with the minister in Jerusalem.

Do you have any idea if someone burned me?

Do you know anything?" Abu Willan answers: "I have no idea."

The Director General of the Ministry of Agriculture, Naama Kaufman - Pess, filed a complaint against Cohen to the Civil Service Commission, for breach of trust, requesting that he be removed from his position. Willan, for his part, claimed that he had received permission from the Minister of Agriculture, Oded Forer, to talk to all the professional officials in the ministry about professional matters (claim (which Porer flatly rejected), filed a police complaint against the CEO for wiretapping and invasion of privacy, while accusing her that she, or one of her people, took pictures of his phone screen without his knowledge.

In addition, he complained about her to the Supreme Court, the Prime Minister and the Civil Service Commissioner and interviewed her wherever possible.

More in Walla!

Macintosh or French Press?

The special holiday packages of Coffee Landover are here

In collaboration with Landover Coffee

The goal: to produce a noisy spin

Willan's media strategy, formulated in the office of the crisis consultant and PR man, Roni Rimon, who has been providing services as a retainer to the Farmers' Association for the past year and a half, was to create a noisy spin, and to divert the discussion from the actual matter, the transmission of internal information from the Ministry of Agriculture by a senior vice president In the office next to the party with whom he is negotiating, for a discussion about the screenshots of Willan.

When the tone rose and Willan's attacks became unbridled. Sheyan was in an interview he gave to Channel 14, from which it could be understood, apparently, that he conditioned the implementation of the agricultural reform on the dismissal of the CEO, Which he flatly denies.

At this point, the smell of spin out of control, became unbearable, even in the nose of someone who is not familiar with the media faucets.

In a puzzling manner, Willan, who filed the complaint with the police against the CEO, accepts the political interference of others in a police investigation, while he does so above all else instead of imposing silence on himself, letting the authorities do their job, and not exerting improper media pressure on the police Israel and the Civil Service Commission and the Supreme Court, which may turn into a disruption of an investigation on his part.

Zvika Cohen (Photo: screenshot, Knesset Channel)

Roni Rimon's office responded:

"Our business culture is to discuss the strategy with the client only and to implement the strategy agreed upon with the client. We adhere to professional confidentiality, as expected of consultants. In matters of disruption - I completely disagree with the claim: We published explicit things, only We emphasized, in a sharp and harsh manner, the scandal that Abu Willan's slanderers resorted to towards him. It is not just that he is the complainer and they are the defenders, rightfully so."

This is the place to remind Ramon that Yolan was not defamed even for a moment and he is not the one at the center of the scandal.

The one who allegedly failed is Zvika Cohen, for whom, for some reason, Willen lay down on the fence.

The sequel, it seems, will surely come.

• Of money

• news

Tags

• Abu Willan