AG green lights gov't decision on Civil Service czar appointment process
While this ends one dispute between AG and the government, tensions are still at breaking point.
Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara agreed on Wednesday to move forward with the government’s proposed solution regarding the appointment of the next Civil Service commissioner.
Her filing to the High Court of Justice likely ended one of one of the various disputes she has had with the government, and it came amid increasing tension between them.
The Civil Service Commission is the official supervisor of the state’s tens of thousands of civil servants. It is an important gatekeeper with broad authority, which includes chairing an appointment committee for senior Civil Service positions.
The current commissioner, Daniel Hershkowitz, was set to retire in September, but his term was extended by three months due a disagreement between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Attorney-General’s Office over the appointment process.
The law says the government appoints the commissioner, but it does not specify the process. The Netanyahu-led government decided in 2018 to appoint Hershkowitz via an ad-hoc vetting committee. It also decided that it would formulate a regular procedure ahead of the next Civil Service commissioner appointment.
The Attorney-General’s Office proposed in June that the process be competitive and involve an independent vetting committee that will ensure the candidates meet professional and ethical requirements.
In August, the government rejected the attorney-general’s proposal and decided that Netanyahu would choose the commissioner. The choice would then be ratified by the Senior Appointments Advisory Committee, which vets the integrity of candidates but does not examine their professional background.
The Attorney-General’s Office said the government’s decision in August was illegal because it had enabled the prime minister to appoint whoever he chooses to the powerful position.
The government ignored the attorney-general’s opinion, and several NGOs petitioned the High Court to prevent the government from moving forward. The government backed down and decided in late October to use the exact same nominating process as in 2018.
The conditions
The attorney-general on Wednesday wrote in a filing to the High Court that the government’s new decision did not explain why the nominating process could not be competitive. She said it was legally viable based on a number of conditions: that the committee will operate with ongoing legal counsel from the Prime Minister’s Office’s legal adviser and her representatives; that the committee will establish in writing, in advance, threshold conditions and criteria for job suitability before presenting a potential candidate; that the committee should “hear or receive written material from relevant professional figures in the Civil Service, past and present, and from the nonprofit sector… to adapt the threshold conditions and criteria to the current challenges of public service.”
Earlier this week, several cabinet ministers called on Netanyahu to fire Baharav-Miara.
On Monday, the Attorney-General’s Office issued a rare denial of a claim by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir that it had attempted to falsely accuse him of the illegal distribution of firearms.
On Wednesday, the Attorney-General’s Office reiterated the denial, saying Ben-Gvir’s claim had been “completely false.”
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