The ombudsmen recently determined that there is a difficulty, but no legal impediment, to the appointment of a member of the "Jewish underground" to a senior position in the civil service despite his conviction for detonating an explosive device in the car of the mayor of Nablus about 40 years ago and amputating his legs. A senior legal official claimed at the hearing: "We will not be able to prevent the appointment of a terrorist who harmed Jews in the future."
Last month, Deputy Minister for Religious Services Matan Kahana completed a round of appointments in the religious councils throughout the country.
One of the appointments, for the chairman of the religious council in Jerusalem, is Natan Natanzon who served as chairman of the religious council in Benjamin for about 32 years.
Contrary to the changes to the ombudsman, the legal advisor of the Ministry of Religious Services opposed the appointment.
When Kahane presented the appointment to the legal advisor of the Ministry of Religious Services, attorney Galia Klein, she opposed the appointment for two reasons. One, it was claimed that Natanzon has no experience with budgets on the scale of the religious council in Jerusalem, which is about NIS 70 million, and the second is that Natanzon had been convicted In the case of the Jewish underground.
He insisted on the controversial appointment, Matan Kahana, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Convicted of aggravated assault
On June 2, 1980, in the morning hours, a bomb exploded in the car of Bassam Shika, the mayor of Nablus, which caused both of his legs to be amputated.
Natanzon attached the luggage to his car together with Yehuda Etzion.
Natanzon was convicted of aggravated assault and carrying a weapon illegally and was sentenced to 3 years in prison, he was acquitted of membership in a terrorist organization.
Deputy Minister Kahane insisted and due to the dispute with the office's ombudsman, the matter came up for discussion at the Ministry of Justice headed by the deputy ombudsmen: Carmit Yulis and Gil Limon.
During the hearing it emerged that although Natanzon was convicted of crimes as part of terrorist activity, this happened about 40 years ago and that he had already held a position in the civil service as the chairman of the religious council for more than 30 years.
In the discussion it was clarified that after Nathanzon's appointment is approved, due to the principle of equality, it will not be possible to prevent a terrorist who harmed Jews under similar circumstances from being appointed to a significant position in the civil service.
Clashes in the round of appointments, the religious council in Jerusalem, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
On the other hand, the substitutes for the ombudsman stated that since the conviction was many years ago, and since Vantanzon had already served for several decades as a civil servant, even if in a less senior position - it cannot be determined that there is a legal impediment in the case, although there is a difficulty.
Following the position of the substitutes for the ombudsman, the committee in the Ministry of Religious Services that advises the minister regarding the eligibility of candidates for appointment decided to approve the appointment.
The committee's protocol details at length the discussion and the considerations that the committee considered regarding the problem of Nathanzon's competence regarding budget management.
However, in the minutes of the hearing there is no evidence of a discussion held at the yeshiva regarding his conviction in the Jewish underground case.
An official who was briefed on the details told "Israel Hayom" that the discussion and its details were omitted due to Natanzon's privacy.
The Ministry of Justice stated: "The Deputy Minister of Religious Services is required, as part of the nomination examination, to give his opinion on the difficulties presented in the position of Mishnim to the advisor."
were we wrong
We will fix it!
If you found an error in the article, we would appreciate it if you shared it with us