Mandelblit issued an opinion urging the Civil Service Commissioner to act and appoint the search committee soon • This position constitutes a conflict of interest on the part of the Spokesman
Attorney General Mandelblit and Justice Minister Nissenkorn // Photo: Jonathan Samia, Gideon Markovich
Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit appeared today (Tuesday) alongside Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn, and published an opinion in which he argued that there was no impediment to appointing a search committee for the position of state attorney.
According to Mandelblit, the concerns raised by the Civil Service Commissioner in his letter regarding the establishment of the locating committee, and the difficulties that arise in the exceptional situation in which the government refrains from appointing a permanent director general to the Ministry of Justice, do not approach the fundamental difficulty .
According to the Attorney General's legal position, detailed in the letter, there is no impediment that the Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Justice, Adv. Sigal Yaakovi, will serve as a member of the selection committee for the position of State Attorney; A place where the formal conditions for this have been met, and it is of great public importance that the committee be established as soon as possible for the appointment of this central and important role in the law enforcement system in the State of Israel.
The opinion also states that: "The Attorney General is confident that the Civil Service Commissioner will help promote the appointment of the State Attorney's Selection Committee by virtue of his joint responsibility for appointing an important figure to the rule of law in the State of Israel, after about ten months in office."
However, it is important to note that the counsel himself who chose to back the justice minister is himself in a conflict of interest.
The identity of the state attorney is important to him personally, because he is in charge of the Harpaz case that is still open and the former attorney, Shai Nitzan, refused to make a decision in his case.
He fought hard for this identity with the previous Minister of Justice, Amir Ohana, and even caused the cancellation of two previous appointments that were brought to the Deputy State Attorney until he took over the position.
The Minister of Justice is expected to support any candidate the adviser desires so it is in fact a matter of mutual backing.
"Paralysis of the Ministry of Justice"
Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn today responded to the commissioner's request to delay the search committee now due to difficulties arising mainly because he does not serve as permanent director general in the Ministry of Justice.
In the reply letter, the Minister rejects the Commissioner's objections and writes, among other things: "Unfortunately, the meaning of what is alleged in your letter is in fact the paralysis of the Ministry of Justice. The letter outlines an unparalleled distorted situation in which the appointment of a director general "Permanent is a condition for the appointment of senior officials in the Ministry of Justice. This is an unacceptable situation, to say the least, and should not be accepted."
The minister explains that he wanted to appoint a permanent director general to his office, and an appeal was made to the government secretariat in August to approve the appointment of Adv. Shimon Brown to the position.
"Since then, three more inquiries have been made in this regard to the government secretariat requesting that the appointment be raised for government approval, but all have been rejected for an unexplained reason."
The Minister further writes that "If Adv. Yaakovi (acting Director General of the Ministry of Justice YA) has all the powers given to the Director General of the Ministry of Justice under the law, then it is easy and material that she has the powers given to the Director General of the Ministry of Justice." "Like the authority of the Director General of the Ministry of Justice to sit as a member of the selection committee for the position of State Attorney according to the decision of the relevant government."
Last Tuesday, the Civil Service Commissioner, Professor Daniel Hershkovitz, informed the Minister of Justice that there was a significant difficulty in establishing the search committee for the permanent position of the State Attorney.
In a letter sent to him, he explained that one of the key members of the committee is the director general of the Ministry of Justice, but that he is not present at the moment and that he is acting director general Adv. Sigal Yaakobi while the government has decided that the ministry director general and not his representative or deputy .
