The Ombudsman criticizes the outgoing State Attorney strongly: "Sending the letter to serving judges - malfunction" • Nitzan: "Commissioner is not authorized to discuss the issue"
Retired Judge David Rosen (left) and Shai Nitzan // Photos: Oren Ben Hakon, Noam Rivkin Fenton
Commissioner of Public Prosecutions, retired Judge David Rosen, is known for his sharp and sharp style. Now he is not sparing his tribe from outgoing State Attorney Shai Nitzan; he is going out against him because of the letter he sent last month to senior prosecutors, including four incumbent judges, demanding that they defend the prosecutor's office in the media.
In response to the appeal to the governorship and democracy movement, Commissioner Rosen called the case a "grave error". "The independence of government institutions in general, and the judiciary in particular, are the cornerstones of the democratic system," he explained. "It is not necessary, therefore, to expand and clarify words about the danger that lurks, even when apparently judges discuss cases in which the prosecutor's office represents one - directly or indirectly. To claim 'for the defense' of the prosecutor's office. "
The commissioner also wrote that "it was good for the said message not to have been sent to incumbent judges... A decision included, sending the message in question to incumbent judges is a serious failure. However, when the incident was discovered, it was corrected - and it is likely that it will not change anymore."
But Nitzan's own response - sent through his assistant attorney Avishai Kraus - indicates that he does not recognize the commissioner's authority to discuss the matter at all. "There is no connection between the complaint and the state's representation in the courts. Accordingly, Nitzan also referred to the complaint body, saying that the letter's mailing list was addressed to 70 former prosecutors, including four former judges who were in the State Attorney's Office, and that this was done by mistake. I find every flaw in the updating and sharing of prosecutors with the obvious challenges these days, as is customary and customary in many other organizations, "Nitzan signed.
The Complaints and Democracy Movement, which filed the complaint, said: "Commissioner Rosen should be congratulated on the clear things. The Justice Ministry cannot accept criticism and check for errors. They dismiss bad conduct in the 'malfunction' and refuse to check themselves."
Nitzan, as you recall, was one of the biggest opponents of the Office of the Audit Office and acted to curb its power. As a result, he refused to cooperate with the former Commissioner, retired Judge Hila Gerstel, and eventually led to her retirement. Officials on the subject also noted that Nitzan "neutered the Commission." This heresy in the Commission's authority also emerged in a recent interview given by Nitzan to the "Yeshiva" supplement of "Israel Today," in which he wondered why the prosecution needed another body of criticism over the State Comptroller's Office.
Two weeks ago, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit responded to a similar complaint from the Movement for Governance and Democracy. He said he did not see a need to check on Nitzan's behavior because he accepted his version that it was a malfunction.
"Renovated" the pension
Yesterday it was reported that Nitzan "arranged" for himself an additional hundreds of thousands of shekels for pensions. The publication in The Marker newspaper states that, at his request, the Civil Service Commission changed the procedure for senior office holders, and although the former State Attorney completed his job on December 16, 2019, the level of salary that will determine his budgetary pension will be updated on January 1 2020. The monthly allowance from which Nitzan will benefit is estimated at about NIS 50,000 a month.
