Constitution Committee Chairman MK Simcha Rotman sent a letter today (Thursday) in response to Knesset Attorney General Sagit Afik in response to her claims regarding his conduct vis-à-vis Adv. Bahar, a representative of the court administration, in a discussion held in the Constitution Committee on the judges' conflicts of interest.
In his letter, Rotman claimed, "In this case, a representative of the court administration referred to a request to convene the committee submitted by a third of the committee members, claiming that their motives are irrelevant and their purpose is to undermine the public's trust in the court. I don't think I'm supposed to allow such attacks on Knesset members by a civil servant. Contrary to the rules according to which an employee of any rank is prohibited from criticizing, in an insulting or offensive manner, the Knesset and its committees, in accordance with the rules of RFA 42.536. Therefore, I demanded that you retract this statement. In the vast majority of similar situations in the past, those who were required to do so apologized or clarified that they did not intend to harm Knesset members and continued their remarks.
"In this case, the representative of the court administration completely ignored my words and continued to read from the reporter. When I told her she was not allowed to speak, she continued to speak into the microphone and after I asked the usher to move the microphone away from her, she grabbed the microphone again to continue speaking without permission to speak."
"Many comments"
In addition, Rotman emphasized that "contrary to what is stated in your letter (and it is a shame that the fact check you carried out on this issue was flawed) and although I believe that such conduct justifies removing a person from the committee room, in the present case I did not remove Attorney Hanit Avraham Bachar, and therefore in any case you did not ask me to return her and in any case I did not refuse to return her."
The Chairman of the Constitution Committee concluded: "The many responses I receive from many diverse people about my consistent demand to respect the dignity of Knesset members, from all factions of the House, when public servants treat them bluntly and condescendingly, make me think that I am acting for the dignity of the Knesset, even if you think otherwise.
This is what many committee chairs have done in the past, and I hope they will do so in the future, and will not ignore the conduct of a public servant who violates the dignity of Knesset members and committee members, and the dignity of the Knesset as a whole."
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