Previous committee members banned Netanyahu from receiving funding for his expenses - resigning in August 2019 following a confrontation with state comptroller Engelman, who thought otherwise • The new committee members now ruled that its decisions, contrary to judicial decisions, were not final and could be re-examined

• PM Benjamin Netanyahu // Photo: Mark Israel Salem

The Permit Committee will re-examine Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's request to finance his legal expenses. Members of the committee, led by retired (retired) Nechama Munitz and Shulamit Dotan and the public representative of Israel, announced that they would convene soon to hear the PM's arguments, and to clarify the committee's previous decision, which decided to ban Netanyahu from receiving the requested funding. Because its decisions, contrary to judicial decisions, do not apply the principle of finality and are changeable.

The new committee was appointed after the previous committee ended their duties in August 2019, on the basis of disagreements with State Comptroller Netanyahu Engelman regarding Prime Minister Netanyahu's request to receive funds to finance his legal protection. The Comptroller considered that the committee members - retired Justice Ezra Kama, Israeli Moorish and Avigdor Ravid - They exceeded their authority when they asked the USSR to present data pertaining to their financial situation, and did not settle for examining the possible conflicts of interest between him and businessman Spencer Partridge, from whom he sought funding.

Photo: Ami Shamir

Last January, the Movement for the Purity of Appeal withdrew its petition, on the recommendation of the High Court of Justice, against the appointments of the three members of the Permit Committee, Samuel Slavin, Eden Bar Tal and Dr. Eti Luzzatto.

Earlier, Attorney General Amit Haddad and Attorney Yossi Cohen approached the committee with a renewed request to finance his legal expenses. Due to the sensitivity of the issue, Comptroller Engelman decided that the composition of the committee members for hearing this application would include two retired judges and one public representative, with the composition usually comprising two public representatives and one judge. According to the permits committee's procedures, the PM's request will be forwarded to the members of the committee who decide on the further processing of the application and whether there has been a material change that does warrant a renewed discussion on the matter.

Nehama Munitz was a district court judge and currently serves as arbitrator and mediator within the Arbitration and Dispute Settlement Center, and retired judge Shulamit Dotan was the magistrate's court president.

The permit permit committee works alongside the state comptroller and is not subject to its decisions to the office itself. As part of its work, the Commission may refuse to grant the requested permit, grant a permit or grant a conditional permit, if it considers it justified in the circumstances of the case and public in good standing. The rules give the committee the power to revoke a permit or change it according to the circumstances.

In response to the decision to reconsider the financing of PM's expenses, MK Tamar Zandberg said: "A suspect in the bribe who created a gift line on a regular basis from equity owners is now asking for a gift from equity owners to protect himself from the trial.

Dan Lavie participated in the preparation of the news