The government’s decision in August to allow Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to personally select Israel’s next civil servant, formally known as the Civil Service Commission (CSC), was criticized as an illegal attempt to politically take over the civil service.・Written by Attorney General Baharav Miara. on Sunday in response to a High Court petition on the issue.
The response signals further conflict between the attorney general’s office and the government, with members of the attorney general’s office saying the agency is deliberately trying to usurp power. claims. The AG has repeatedly argued that it would not have needed to intervene if the government had stopped trying to make decisions that violated the law.
The Civil Service Commissioner is the official supervisor of the state’s tens of thousands of civil servants and has broad powers, including approving the assignment of positions and powers between and within administrative units. Establishment of administrative regulations for government agencies. Chairs the Appointments Committee for senior civil service positions. And so on.
The current director, Professor Daniel Hershkowitz, was scheduled to retire in September, but his term was shortened to three years due to an ongoing dispute between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the attorney general’s office over the appointment process for the next director. It was extended for a month.
Israeli law only states that the government appoints the chief, but does not specify the process involved. In 2018, prior to Mr. Hershkovitz’s appointment by the Select Committee, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government, after consultation with the Attorney General and other legal authorities, established normal procedures prior to the next CSC appointment. has been decided. Gari Baharahu Miara (Credit: Yonatan Zindel/Flash90)
The Attorney General’s Office submitted a recommendation in June, but the government rejected it in August and instead decided on another ad hoc, one-time solution. That is, Prime Minister Netanyahu selects the director, and the selection is approved by Israel’s Senior Appointments Advisory Committee (SAAC), which approves appointments to seven senior positions, mainly in the areas of security and economy.
This is unacceptable, Deputy Attorney General Gil Limón wrote ahead of the government’s August decision. Limón said SAAC was an inappropriate forum for appointing CSCs because it only examined candidates’ integrity, not their professional qualifications. SAAC typically approves candidates from a small pool of candidates that it deems suitable for top vacancies, but civil service commissioners include people from a variety of fields and the number of candidates is vast. . Therefore, nominating committees must consider qualifications as well as integrity, Limón argued at the time.
The appointment process of the CSC is particularly important as the CSC is responsible for ensuring the professional and apolitical character of the entire civil service and is therefore the main gatekeeper, Baharahu Miara said in a petition in the High Court on Sunday. Added in the answer. Baharav Miara said his office had already ruled in August that the government’s proposal was not legally viable, and the fact that the government approved it nonetheless It added that it was in violation of numerous high court judgments that established the interpretation of the law. The law was legally binding.
Rather, the proper appointment procedure for the CSC is what is known as a “search committee,” in which an independent committee actively searches for and approves candidates, and then one or more persons from whom the government can select. , the Attorney General said. I wrote. He added that the composition of the independent commission could be negotiated.
“A clash of two views”
Prime Minister Netanyahu said in August that the discussion between him and the attorney general’s office was a “clash of two views: the secretary’s decision or the people’s decision.” Prime Minister Netanyahu has said that if the people believe the appointment was flawed, they can replace the government and then make new appointments.
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In his response to the High Court on Sunday, Baharav Miara said this approach “reflects a formal and very narrow understanding of democracy, and the need for checks and balances between and within government agencies.” “This is inconsistent with the High Court’s ruling on gender.” In general and in particular with regard to the professionalism and apolitical character of the public service. ”
Baharav Miara further said, “In the name of ‘governance and democracy,’ the government aims to maintain its independent, non-political character, loyal to the state, by simplifying the process of appointing civil service members. “They want to essentially undermine the fundamental role of the Civil Service Commissioner,” he added. It is about weakening his role in upholding the public service and, by extension, fundamental democratic principles of the rule of law and good governance. ”
The case in question is a consolidation of petitions filed by the Louis Brandeis Institute for Society, Economics, and Democracy, the Manners Center within the One Hundred Initiative, the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, and the Histadrut. there were.
